It would not be a java dependency but rather a component dependency (you talk to zookeeper over the network). Zookeeper is also not just config management, it'

It would not be a java dependency but rather a component dependency (you talk to zookeeper over the network). Zookeeper is also not just config management, it's state management. It helps to solve some of the really nasty problems of distributed state, e.g. achieving quorum and dealing with split brain situations. However, it's been a while since I read up on the planned redis-cluster design, so I'm not sure how they are tackling these issues.