Introduction

NEWS (June 16, 2003) : Axis 1.1 Final is now available (read the release notes)!

Apache Axis is an implementation of the SOAP ("Simple Object Access Protocol") submission to W3C.

From the draft W3C specification:

SOAP is a lightweight protocol for exchange of information in a decentralized, distributed environment. It is an XML based protocol that consists of three parts: an envelope that defines a framework for describing what is in a message and how to process it, a set of encoding rules for expressing instances of application-defined datatypes, and a convention for representing remote procedure calls and responses.

This project is a follow-on to the Apache SOAP project.

Please see the Reference Library for a list of technical resources that should prove useful.

The latest list of requirements is also available.

Rationale for Releasing Axis 1.0

Many users have requested a v1.0 so that they can work from a relatively stable base. Some users have even remained on Apache SOAP until v1.0 of Axis is available. Now Axis has surpassed Apache SOAP in function, performance, and interoperability and, in particular, has passed Sun's JAX-RPC and SAAJ compliance tests, we decided to ship v1.0 as it currently stands.

However, this is far from the end of the road for Axis: there is more documentation to be written; the SOAP v1.2 spec. needs to be tracked to completion and implemented fully; major functional enhancements and architectural improvements are being considered. We particularly encourage you to submit improvements to the documentation, however large or small and in any format, to axis-dev@ws.apache.org. Also, interoperability is always a concern, so please report all replicatable bugs.

The Axis Development Team