# GSoC 2025 : Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern, User-Friendly Alternative - Final Presentation

**URL:** https://talk.openmrs.org/t/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-final-presentation/46979
**Category:** GSoC
**Tags:** gsoc2025
**Created:** [August 31, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-final-presentation/46979 "2025-08-31T00:44:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![jonathan](https://talk.openmrs.org/user_avatar/talk.openmrs.org/jonathan/32/14972_2.png) [@jonathan](https://talk.openmrs.org/u/jonathan)
#### Post date: [August 31, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-final-presentation/46979/1 "2025-08-31T00:44:15Z")

</div>

**GSoC 2025 : Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern, User-Friendly Alternative**

- **Project title:** Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern, User-Friendly Alternative

- **Primary mentor:** @dkayiwa

- **Backup mentor:** @wikumc

- **project link:** [GSoC 2025: Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern, User-Friendly Alternative](https://openmrs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/RES/pages/577503465/GSoC+2025+Replacing+OpenMRS+Standalone+with+a+Modern+User-Friendly+Alternative)

### Overview

Replace the Standalone with something else. Very old, can’t even build in our latest releases - we disable it as the technology no longer works and is no longer supported. We now just ship the .war file and README. Suggestion to leverage Docker - something that works by double clicking and then just runs.

We never intended to use the OpenMRS Standalone version in production. But it turned out to be used in a number of places because they found it easier to use for sites that did not have support staff with advanced IT skills. We are also seeing an increasing number of people in our community who do not have lots of computer skills and just want something to download, click and run for their hospitals.

### Objectives

- Replace the legacy Standalone with a modern, double-click runnable distribution that is simple for non-technical users to install and run.

- Ensure cross-platform compatibility, including support for Apple Silicon (M1/M2) and modern Java (Java 17+).

- Adopt MariaDB4j as the embedded database engine, replacing MySQL.

- Support OpenMRS Core 2.7.0+ and provide standalone distributions for OpenMRS 2.x, 3.x, and Core Platform (2.7.x, 2.8.x).

- Automate builds with CI pipelines to generate and publish artifacts for each supported distribution.

### Contribution

Github repository that I worked on,

> **[GitHub - openmrs/openmrs-standalone: A simplified, all-inclusive installation option...](https://github.com/openmrs/openmrs-standalone)**
>
> A simplified, all-inclusive installation option with both an embedded database and web server.

#### Issues and PRs

- JIRA Epic ticket : [STAND-110](https://openmrs.atlassian.net/browse/STAND-110)

- [Pull requests by Muta Jonathan](https://github.com/openmrs/openmrs-standalone/pulls?q=author%3AMuta-Jonathan+L)

#### Weekly Blog Posts

| **Week** | **Blog Post** |
| --- | --- |
| week 0 | [My GSoC 2025 Journey Begins: Community Bonding](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/my-gsoc-2025-journey-begins-community-bonding-9d991203a123) |
| week 01 | [GSOC 2025 Week 1: Launching Into Orbit with MariaDB4j 🚀👾](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-1-launching-into-orbit-with-mariadb4j-b7fe7638f7c8) |
| week 02 | [GSOC Week 2: CIEL Wars — The Data Awakens 🌌📦](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-week-2-ciel-wars-the-data-awakens-14d788a3c850?source=your_stories_outbox---writer_outbox_published-----------------------------------------) |
| week 03 | [GSOC 2025 Week 3: CIEL & Demo Mode — A Setback in the Stars 🛰🧠](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-3-ciel-demo-mode-a-setback-in-the-stars-%EF%B8%8F-89ada505b0c4?source=your_stories_outbox---writer_outbox_published-----------------------------------------) |
| week 04 | [🌌 GSOC 2025 Week 4: Demo Updated, CIEL Fixed, Expert Mode Activated](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-4-demo-updated-ciel-fixed-expert-mode-activated-12c0cc8bec83) |
| week 05 | [🪐 GSOC 2025 Week 5: RefApp 2.x Lands Safely on Standalone](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-5-refapp-2-x-lands-safely-on-standalone-02bbbc4e1bf9?source=your_stories_outbox---writer_outbox_published-----------------------------------------) |
| week 06 | [🛸 GSoC 2025 Week 6: RefApp 3.x Arrives — and a Platform 2.8.0 Glitch from the Stars](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-6-refapp-3-x-arrives-and-a-platform-2-8-0-glitch-from-the-stars-ecca851eb236) |
| week 07 | [🛠 GSoC 2025 Week 07 — Fixing Windows Compatibility and Midterm Reflection](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-07-fixing-windows-compatibility-and-midterm-reflection-587303673ada) |
| week 08 | [GSoC 2025 Week 08: Wrapping Up Standalone Platform — Final Fixes and Forward Plans](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-08-wrapping-up-standalone-platform-final-fixes-and-forward-plans-e7266db68631) |
| week 09 | [🧭 GSoC 2025 Week 09: Shifting Focus to 3.x and Crushing Critical Errors](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-09-shifting-focus-to-3-x-and-crushing-critical-errors-c4682c0d1289) |
| week 10 | [GSoC 2025 Week 10 — The Initialization Puzzle and the Disappearing Snapshots 🌌](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-week-10-the-initialization-puzzle-and-the-disappearing-snapshots-4801a90f135d) |
| week 11 | [🌌 GSoC 2025 Week 11: Fixing Snapshot Resolution and Preparing Standalone for the Final Stretch](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/week-11-fixing-snapshot-resolution-and-preparing-standalone-for-the-final-stretch-05a4eb6ca52b) |
| week 12 | [Week 12: A Major Breakthrough in the Standalone Mission 🚀](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/week-12-a-major-breakthrough-in-the-standalone-mission-913884ed4ac2) |

## Resources

#### Final Presentation

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Cn0ptyoh_Yc/maxresdefault.jpg "GSoC 2025: Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern,User-Friendly Alternative - Final Presentation") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn0ptyoh_Yc)

#### Talk Thread

Project update thread : [GSOC 2025: Replacing OpenMRS Standalone with a Modern, User-Friendly Alternative - Updates and Discussion](https://talk.openmrs.org/t/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-updates-and-discussion/46024/74)

Final evaluation report: [https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-319e725bc105](https://medium.com/@mutajonathan4/gsoc-2025-replacing-openmrs-standalone-with-a-modern-user-friendly-alternative-319e725bc105)

#### Proposal

Google Doc Link of this Proposal: **[Mutagubya Jonathan OpenMRS GSOC Program 2025 - Google Docs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Nl9yfZ4k56lb1XCDj4xQVseF2jQJvCQPbXNgOvmF40w/edit?usp=sharing)**

### Future Works

Looking ahead on this project i see alot of things we can improve and work on. For now we still have a small work to do on the 2.x refApp which is on branch `openmrs-emr2` which needs to add support for demo data and windows capability support.

In the UI aspects i see potential to further improve it and mimic the new 2.8.0 Installion for openmrs style developed by @mherman22 instead of using the following html style

 ![1_wwVnisWWGeOSR35j-Df_vQ](https://talk.openmrs.org/uploads/default/original/3X/1/f/1f03ec99a3b3eae93cef91976e75cc5ef77ef803.png)

Also thinking of bringing more contributors on board to further improve features, Speed on startups like when importing sql dumps in 3.x.

### Thoughts On GSoC

GSoC 2025 has truly been a life-changing journey for me. I thank God for the wisdom and strength He has given me throughout this experience. I’m especially grateful to my mentors, @wikumc and @dkayiwa , for walking with me through challenges and constantly pushing me to grow as a developer. A big shout-out to @jayasanka for the gentle reminders about blog posts that kept us consistent, also @ruhanga, @mherman22, @raff, @ibacher and to the amazing OpenMRS community for the encouragement and teamwork that made this journey even more meaningful. Looking ahead, I’m excited to keep giving back and contributing to open-source projects while carrying forward all the lessons I’ve learned.