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I am installing JBoss but I don't understand which version to choose. Should I download JBoss 7.x or the JBoss EAP 6.x? What is the difference?

eis
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LuckyLuke
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6 Answers6

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TLDR; out of those options, pick the latest EAP 6.x Alpha.

Note that Wildfly was released 11.2.2014, which is now the preferred version.

The long story:

Previously, JBoss community edition was free for all, and EAP was the enterprise version for which you'd need a commercial subscription for. In return you'd get commercial support for it as well. However, with later version things changed a bit and this is no longer exactly so.

JBoss AS7 is JBoss version 7.1. For JBoss 7.2 version, they released it as JBoss EAP 6.1 Alpha, so that is the updated community version. Alpha is free to use in any way or form. They have also released JBoss EAP 6.1 (the commercial version), for which you need a subscription for. If you take a look at the download page, you see the versions together with the release dates:

Version       Release date
6.1.0 Final  2013-05-20   
6.1.0 Beta   2013-04-19   
6.1.0 Alpha 2013-03-07   
7.1.1.Final  2012-03-09   

6.1.0 Final and 6.1.0 Beta binaries are for commercial purposes and require a paid subscription to be run in production environments.

There are some considerable improvements in 7.2, and 7.1 is very old already, so for 7.x community version you want JBoss EAP 6.1 Alpha or later 6.x Alpha.

Sources:

Update 20.7.2015: since writing the previous answer, JBoss EAP 6.1 Alpha has been superseded by newer JBoss 6.x EAP Alphas in the AS7 product line, latest being JBoss EAP 6.4 Alpha (see "view older downloads"). Statements about 6.1 Alpha release cover all other Alpha releases in EAP 6.X product line as well, so no reason to go for 6.1 Alpha anymore, but to latest 6.x Alpha.

Also, previous download page has been changed to not include EAP releases anymore. They can be found only at EAP download page, and it doesn't even contain 6.1 Alpha anymore.

And finally: JBoss 7.x line is nowadays superseded by Wildfly and EAP 6.x line by EAP 7.

eis
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  • note: like they explain in the article, openlogic has compiled JBoss 7.2 from the sources. It can be downloaded from [here](http://olex.openlogic.com/packages/jboss). However, the difference is just the branding, it is the same thing as EAP 6.1.Alpha. – eis Dec 09 '13 at 19:13
  • In jboss download page they have mentioned LGPL license... why you are saying it requires paid subscription – Indra Yadav Jan 03 '14 at 08:10
  • Changed the wording in my answer from license to subscription to avoid confusion. – eis Jan 03 '14 at 10:30
  • @IndraYadav You need a subscription for EAP based on for example [this](https://community.jboss.org/thread/228640) and [this discussion](https://community.jboss.org/message/825866). The EAP binary requires a subscription. Source code does not. There is the use case of building it from sources and self-supporting your own build, which might be possible as well (as detailed in [this post](https://community.jboss.org/message/826851#826851)), but I'm not expert enough to comment on that. – eis Jan 03 '14 at 10:52
  • Does Wildfly completely replace JBoss 7.2 Alpha now? There don't seem to be any community versions of 7.2 on the JBoss download site now, just EAP versions. – matt freake Apr 09 '14 at 09:51
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    @Disco As far as I've understood there will be no AS7 community releases anymore, just Wildfly. – eis Apr 09 '14 at 10:26
  • One more link: http://henk53.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/the-curious-case-of-jboss-as-7-1-2-and-7-1-3/ – Mr_and_Mrs_D Jun 19 '14 at 11:19
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JBoss AS 7.x is a community release that represents a potential enterprise version. At Red Hat, we do not use the JBoss AS names anymore because it adds to the confusion. All future JBoss AS as been renamed Wildfly and they do not correspond to a JBoss Enterprise Application Server release (you'll notice that we skip version numbers as we see fit).

JBoss Enterprise Application Server (EAP) x will also align to the Java EE spec. So JBoss EAP 6 is JavaEE 6. JBoss EAP 7 is JavaEE 7. Because EAP is the enterprise release, it will always be the most "mature", harden product and will include fixes that are not available in the community version.

Albert T. Wong
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There are two versions: Jboss AS (Application Server) and JBoss EAP (Enterprise Application Platform).

JBoss AS is a community version. Personnaly, I never used EAP but I never used JBoss in a production context.. it seams that EAP is designed to be more stable.

There are informations here: http://docs.jboss.org/jbossas/docs/Server_Configuration_Guide/beta500/html/ch01s01s01.html

N LAMY
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JBoss EAP 6.x is not free (without subscription fee) for Test/QA/Production environments. For more details please look at this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/37728525/466677

Community
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Marek Gregor
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My understanding is this: JBoss EAP 6.1.0 Final is basically Jboss AS 7.2 but you are not unable to download a binary version of JBoss AS 7.2, you must get the code and build it yourself. There are binary versions for JBoss EAP 6.1.0 but you would need a license (which include support etc.).

dalvarezmartinez1
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There are also source distributions available. Jboss 7.1.2 which I understand corresponds pretty exactly to EAP 6.0 and Jboss 7.1.3 which I believe corresponds to EAP6.1

They actually aren't too hard to compile yourself, even on Windows!

John Burgess
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