The Source Code Distribution is available if you want to build Rice from scratch and create the standalone or binary libraries yourself.
The Binary Distribution (also known as the client distribution) is a collection of JAR files. It is used when other applications need to use your Rice implementation and you won’t be using the Rice web application. It is designed for embedding Rice and can be used as a set of libraries for client applications.
The Binary Distribution of Kuali Rice is implemented as an application framework consisting of application programming interfaces (APIs), libraries, and the web framework. This allows you to construct a Kuali Rice application. All JARs and web content are included in this version.
In a typical enterprise deployment of Kuali Rice, a Standalone Rice server hosts numerous shared services and provides the most versatility. The composition of Rice contains an application framework — the APIs, Libraries, and web framework that are used to construct a Rice application. You can configure subsequent Rice client applications to interact with these services as needed.