Today, we’re pleased to announce the beta availability of Red Hat Software Collection 2, Red Hat’s newest installment open source web development tools, dynamic languages and databases. Delivered on a separate lifecycle from Red Hat Enterprise Linux with a more frequent release cadence, Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta expedites the creation of modern applications that can be confidently deployed into production. Red Hat Software Collections strikes the right balance for developers by providing the latest stable versions of many tools while still supporting previously released versions.

To keep pace with the ever-evolving needs of the developer community, Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta supports additional multiple language versions – this gives users the ability to select the specific version of a language that best suits their needs while remaining confident of the support behind the version. For example, Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta includes updates to Python 2.7, continues to support Python 3.3 and, new to Red Hat Software Collections, adds Python 3.4. By supporting a spectrum of language versions as opposed to only the most recent release, we’re able to offer a wider variety of innovations to our developers with the knowledge that these languages are all backed by Red Hat’s enterprise-class support. The result for IT organizations is the right combination of developer agility with production stability.

Beyond multiple language support, Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta includes a host of newly added and updated collections. New languages, tools and databases include:

• Python 3.4 – the latest stable, major release of Python 3 and includes a number of additional utilities and database connectors for MySQL

• PHP 5.6 – featuring numerous improvements, additions and a streamlined upgrade path for migrating from past versions

• Perl 5.20 – a recent stable release of Perl shipped with a set of additional utilities, scripts, and database connectors for MySQL and PostgreSQL

• Ruby 2.2, and, in its own collection, Rails 4.1 give users the ability to access and install an updated version of Ruby without necessarily having to install an updated version of Rails.

• MySQL5.6 – inclusive of enhancements to InnoDB for higher transactional throughput, partitioning improvements for querying and managing huge tables, and better performance monitoring

• MariaDB 10 – a recent stable release of this easy-to-adopt database alternative to MySQL

• PostgreSQL 9.4 – featuring the new JSONB datatype, increased scalability with Logical Decoding, the foundation for new replication tools such as Bi-Directonal Replication, and several additional enhancements that can contribute to improved performance

• MongoDB 2.6 – a high-performance, cross-platform document database features comprehensive core server enhancements, enhanced scalability and index intersection

• Passenger 4.0 – a modern web and application server for Ruby, Passenger 4.0 has been optimized for performance, memory usage and ease-of-use

Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta also includes many updates and enhancements to existing collections, including:

• Maven 3.0.5 – a recent stable release of the popular build automation tool for Java projects that describes how software is built and associated dependencies

• Python 2.7 – now includes python-wheel, python-pip, and associated dependencies

• Thermostat 1.2 – adds event-based profiling, an improved sampler profiler, Maven archetypes and visual improvements to the Swing client and charts

• nginx 1.6 - a recent stable release of nginx, a high performance, open source HTTP sever and reverse proxy option

• DevAssistant 0.9.3 – a useful tools for setting up development environments, publishing code and other related tasks, this latest, stable version includes several bug fixes and full backwards compatibility

• Node.js 0.10.33 – previously only available through an unsupported tech preview, the latest stable release of this modern programming platform is now fully supported

Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta users will also have access to the latest version of Red Hat Developer Toolset, a collection of C and C++ compilers and tools as well as the Eclipse IDE. In addition, Dockerfiles are now available for the most popular software collections, helping developers to rapidly build and deploy containerized applications.

As with previous installments, the collections included in Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta will remain supported for two to three years, enabling developers to build and deploy applications with confidence. For flexible deployments across the open hybrid cloud, developers can create and deliver applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 as well as OpenShift by Red Hat.

For more information on Red Hat Software Collections 2 Beta, please visit https://access.redhat.com/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Software_Collections/.