New Group Proposal: OpenJDK Conformance

[Mark Wielaard]

Hi,

On Fri, 2007-09-28 at 10:57 -0700, iris.clark at sun.com wrote:
> I'd like to propose creation of the OpenJDK Conformance Group.  The
> intent of this group is to discuss conformance testing and
> compatibility issues.  Topics for discussion include:
> 
>   - Defining conformance testing
>   - Understanding the importance of compatibility between releases
>   - Distinguishing between conformance and product tests

This sound great. One idea for this is inviting Stuart Ballard (CCed).
His japitools http://www.kaffe.org/~stuart/japi/ have been a great part
of the communities conformance and compatibility drive.

Does it have to be a separate group? Couldn't this be part of the
quality group? They already have a (pretty quiet) mailinglist and
infrastructure on the website. It seems conformance is just one bit of
the quality process overall.

>   - Acquiring the JCK for an OpenJDK project
>   - Configuring and running the JCK
>   - Contributing new JCK tests
> 
> This group will have two mailing lists.  The first is open to everyone
> and will contain discussions around compatibility, conformance
> testing, and general JCK installation and usability.  The second
> mailing list is open only to group members who have signed the OpenJDK
> Community TCK Licensee Agreement.  Discussions on this list will focus
> on understanding the behavior and validity of specific tests and other
> confidential materials.

I do have my doubts about this second part though. Is it really in the
interest of the openjdk project to have secret lists where proprietary
software is discussed without the rest of the community being able to
see, share and help out? The thing I like about OpenJDK is that it is a
free software community, where all software and ideas are shared in the
open. There are still of course the binary blobs and the jtreg suite,
but my understanding is that those will be liberated over time (as
icedtea and mauve have shown can already be done). Is the idea that over
time the JCK will also become a proper part of OpenJDK under a free
license?

Cheers,

Mark
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