General JDK Compatibility Policy

[joe darcy]

Hello,

Continuing to populate the CSR wiki, please review the proposed General 
JDK Compatibility Policy:

  The general compatibility policy for exported APIs implemented in the 
JDK is:

     * Don't break binary compatibility (as defined in the Java Language 
Specification) without sufficient cause.

     * Avoid introducing source incompatibilities.

     * Manage behavioral compatibility changes.

One sufficient cause for breaking binary compatibility is removing a an 
API deprecated for removal in an earlier release, as described in the 
enhanced deprecation policy (http://openjdk.java.net/jeps/277). The 
different kinds of compatibility can be subtle and are discussed in 
detail elsewhere 
(https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/csr/Kinds+of+Compatibility).

This will appear after the "CSR Background and Overview" on the main page.

Thanks,

-Joe