Architecture Decisions on Eclipse SW360

ADR Index

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)

This directory contains the Architecture Decision Records for SW360.

ADR Index

ADR	Title	Status	Date	Format
ADR-001	Use Apache Thrift for Internal Services	Accepted	2014	DAR/SWOT
ADR-002	Use CouchDB as Primary Database	Accepted	2014	DAR/SWOT
ADR-003	Use Keycloak for Authentication	Accepted	2022	DAR/SWOT
ADR-004	Migrate to Spring Boot 3.x	Accepted	2024	DAR/SWOT
ADR-005	Use Apache Tomcat as Servlet Container	Accepted	2014	DAR/SWOT
ADR-006	Migrate to Cloudant SDK for CouchDB Access	Accepted	2024	DAR/SWOT
ADR-007	File-Based API Response Cache for REST Endpoints	Accepted	2026	DAR/SWOT
ADR-008	Upgrade to Spring Boot 4.x and Spring Security 7.x	Accepted	2026	Standard

Templates

Template	Description
ADR-TEMPLATE.md	DAR format with SWOT analysis & T-shirt sizing

ADR-001: Apache Thrift for Internal Services

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Internal RPC Framework

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2014
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 10 minutes

Background

SW360 was designed as a multi-tier application for open source license compliance management with:

ADR-002: CouchDB as Primary Database

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Primary Database

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2014
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 12 minutes

Background

SW360 manages software components, releases, projects, and licenses for open source license compliance. The data model is characterized by:

ADR-003: Keycloak for Authentication

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Authentication Provider

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2022
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 12 minutes

Background

SW360 originally used Liferay Portal’s built-in authentication, which coupled user management to the UI layer. With the migration away from Liferay toward a REST-first architecture, several challenges emerged:

ADR-004: Migrate to Spring Boot 3.x

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: Spring Boot Version Migration

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2024
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 10 minutes

Background

SW360’s REST API was built on Spring Boot 2.x with Spring Security 5.x. Several factors drove the need to evaluate migration:

ADR-005: Apache Tomcat as Servlet Container

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Servlet Container

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2014
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 8 minutes

Background

SW360 was originally designed as a Liferay Portal application, which required a servlet container to host web applications. The servlet container needed to:

ADR-006: Cloudant SDK for CouchDB Access

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: CouchDB Client Library Migration

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2024
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 10 minutes

Background

SW360 uses Apache CouchDB as its primary database (see ADR-002). The original CouchDB client library was Ektorp, a Java library that provided:

ADR-007: File-Based API Response Cache

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: REST API Response Caching

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Original Decision: 2026
Reformatted: April 2026
Status: Accepted
Estimated read time: 12 minutes

Background

The SW360 REST API exposes resource-intensive endpoints that aggregate large amounts of data. The most critical example is GET /releases?allDetails=true, which:

ADR-008: Upgrade to Spring Boot 4.x and Spring Security 7.x

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Decision Analysis and Resolution: Spring Boot 4.x and Spring Security 7.x Upgrade

Created by: SW360 Architecture Team
Decision Date: April 2026 Status: Accepted
Supersedes: ADR-004 (Spring Boot 3.x Migration)
Reference: eclipse-sw360/sw360#4054

1. Context and Problem Statement

Spring Boot 3.x, while still supported, is approaching its maintenance window end. Spring Boot 4.x (based on Spring Framework 7.x and Spring Security 7.x) introduces performance improvements, modern Java alignment, and security enhancements. However, the upgrade involves breaking changes in package relocations, removed deprecated APIs, and module restructuring.

ADR Template (DAR/SWOT)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

ADR Template: Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR)

Template Version: 1.0
Based on: ABT UI Technology Stack Decision Framework
Approach: SWOT Analysis + T-Shirt Sizing for Weighted Criteria Evaluation

ADR-XXX: [Decision Title]

Created by: [Author Name]
Last updated: [Date]
Estimated read time: [X] minutes

Background

[Describe the experience and context that led to this decision point. Include:]

Architecture Decisions on Eclipse SW360

ADR Index

Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)

ADR Index

Templates

ADR-001: Apache Thrift for Internal Services

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Internal RPC Framework

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-002: CouchDB as Primary Database

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Primary Database

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-003: Keycloak for Authentication

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Authentication Provider

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-004: Migrate to Spring Boot 3.x

Decision Analysis and Resolution: Spring Boot Version Migration

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-005: Apache Tomcat as Servlet Container

Decision Analysis and Resolution: SW360 Servlet Container

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-006: Cloudant SDK for CouchDB Access

Decision Analysis and Resolution: CouchDB Client Library Migration

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-007: File-Based API Response Cache

Decision Analysis and Resolution: REST API Response Caching

Table of Contents

Background

ADR-008: Upgrade to Spring Boot 4.x and Spring Security 7.x

Decision Analysis and Resolution: Spring Boot 4.x and Spring Security 7.x Upgrade

1. Context and Problem Statement

ADR Template (DAR/SWOT)

ADR Template: Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR)

ADR-XXX: [Decision Title]

Table of Contents

Background