http://pivotal.io/platform-as-a-service/migrating-to-cloud-native-application-architectures-ebook[Cloud Native] is a style of application development that encourages easy adoption of best practices in the areas of continuous delivery and value-driven development. A related discipline is that of building http://12factor.net/[12-factor Apps] in which development practices are aligned with delivery and operations goals, for instance by using declarative programming and management and monitoring. Spring Cloud facilitates these styles of development in a number of specific ways and the starting point is a set of features that all components in a distributed system either need or need easy access to when required.
Many of those features are covered by http://projects.spring.io/spring-boot[Spring Boot], which we build on in Spring Cloud. Some more are delivered by Spring Cloud as two libraries: Spring Cloud Context and Spring Cloud Commons. Spring Cloud Context provides utilities and special services for the `ApplicationContext` of a Spring Cloud application (bootstrap context, encryption, refresh scope and environment endpoints). Spring Cloud Commons is a set of abstractions and common classes used in different Spring Cloud implementations (eg. Spring Cloud Netflix vs. Spring Cloud Consul).
If you are getting an exception due to "Illegal key size" and you are using Sun's JDK, you need to install the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) Unlimited Strength Jurisdiction Policy Files. See the following links for more information:
* Java 6 JCE Link http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jce-6-download-429243.html
* Java 7 JCE Link http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jce-7-download-432124.html
* Java 8 JCE Link http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jce8-download-2133166.html
Extract files into JDK/jre/lib/security folder (whichever version of JRE/JDK x64/x86 you are using).
Unfortunately m2e does not yet support Maven 3.3, so once the projects
are imported into Eclipse you will also need to tell m2eclipse to use
the `.settings.xml` file for the projects. If you do not do this you
may see errors many different errors related to the POMs in the
projects. Open your Eclipse preferences, expand the Maven
preferences, and select User Settings. In the User Settings field
click Browse and navigate to the Spring Cloud project you imported
selecting the `.settings.xml` file in that project. Click Apply and
then OK to save the preference changes.
NOTE: Alternatively you can copy the repository settings from https://github.com/spring-cloud/spring-cloud-build/blob/master/.settings.xml[`.settings.xml`] into your own `~/.m2/settings.xml`.
shouldn't cause any problems, but in an IDE you need to add an agent
to the JVM. Full instructions can be found in the Lombok website. The
sign that you need to do this is a lot of compiler errors to do with
missing methods and fields, e.g.
[indent=0]
----
The method getInitialStatus() is undefined for the type EurekaInstanceConfigBean EurekaDiscoveryClientConfiguration.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/eureka line 120 Java Problem
The method getInitialStatus() is undefined for the type EurekaInstanceConfigBean EurekaDiscoveryClientConfiguration.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/eureka line 121 Java Problem
The method setNonSecurePort(int) is undefined for the type EurekaInstanceConfigBean EurekaDiscoveryClientConfiguration.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/eureka line 112 Java Problem
The type EurekaInstanceConfigBean.IdentifyingDataCenterInfo must implement the inherited abstract method DataCenterInfo.getName() EurekaInstanceConfigBean.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/eureka line 131 Java Problem
The method getId() is undefined for the type ProxyRouteLocator.ProxyRouteSpec PreDecorationFilter.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/zuul/filters/pre line 60 Java Problem
The method getLocation() is undefined for the type ProxyRouteLocator.ProxyRouteSpec PreDecorationFilter.java /spring-cloud-netflix-core/src/main/java/org/springframework/cloud/netflix/zuul/filters/pre line 55 Java Problem
----
==== Importing into other IDEs
Maven is well supported by most Java IDEs. Refer to you vendor documentation.