For reference, the prototype repository is available here:
http://anonsvn.icefaces.org/repo/icefaces/scratchpads/glimmer/
(Please keep in mind that even "public" APIs are subject to radical change in the prototype. You have been warned. Having said that, however, please try it out and provide your feedback.)
The .war files built for new ICEfaces 2.0 applications (such as the auction demo) do not contain the JSF jars (this significantly reduces their size). They can be deployed directly to GlassFish v3. To deploy to other containers, copy jsf-api.jar and jsf-impl.jar (found in glimmer/lib) to the container lib directory.
The .war files built for the compat applications (such as component-showcase) require a number of .jar dependencies, so also contain the JSF .jars.
Regarding implementing Ajax Push as "notification/refresh": There is also currently the problem that a server initiated render clears the jsf messages (the ones which are displayed in the ice:message/ice:messages tags), which leads to an undesired user experience. What we and others are doing is storing the messages between render phases in a cache and clearing the cache in the apply values phase, because this phase does not run with the synthetic request. How does this relate to the new "notification/refresh" implementation: Does it run the apply values phase for a server initiated rendering? Is it possible to tell a user initiated from a server initiated phases run in a phases listener? With "notification/refresh", can there also come new values in input fields the user has entered meanwhile?