This post is a little premature, as I don't have the fully distributable VM ready yet, but that said...

I have put together a 100% free CFML processing stack virtual machine using CentOS 5, Tomcat 5, Apache 2, MySQL and Smith Project.

Smith

Linux

Apache

MySQL

(Or "CLAMS", because it's funny. The "C" would be for CentOS)

Eariler today, the Smith Project team posted an updated war to address the Smith admin not accepting changes (see here). Once I downloaded the newest war, I was able to add a datasource connecting the instance to the MySQL and do some simple queries.

The challenges for distributing this VM...

• It's big. It is a full install of an OS (albeit a stripped down one).

• I neglected to keep the virtual disks at the 2gb per file size, so it won't work on filesystems that can't handle files larger than 2gigs.

I plan on recreating this VM using the 2gb/file size approach (very soon), and also beef up the documentation on how to set this up if you wanted to do an install on another machine (hopefully soon).

So, stay tuned for updates when I find a place to host this thing for downloads. If anybody knows of something good/free please let me know.

Also, I would be willing to share the VM in its current state, if you can deal with a ~4gb VM.

I would love to see this effort (even if it is not my initial attempt) really take off. I am really pumped to see a freely downloadable CFML processor (thanks Smith Project!).

Smith is an open source, cross-platform ColdFusion® engine, written entirely in Java. Running on top of Java Runtime Environment and Java Servlet Container, it can be virtually deployed on any operating system and work with any web server. Smith represents lightweight, yet reliable alternative to the existing ColdFusion® servers. It supports most important ColdFusion® features (see Features) and already drives several large ColdFusion® applications.

Deeply integrated in J2EE, Smith works as part of ordinary Java Web application and can easily be used together with servlets and JSPs. The server behaviour is easily configurable through the simple Web interface where database connections, debugging options, server mappings and more can be set.

Smith is open source software, which means that it comes with permission for anyone to use, copy, and distribute it.

Download and try fully functional version of the Smith engine.