Project Proposal: JDK 7 Update

[Dr Andrew John Hughes]

On 13:20 Thu 16 Jun     , Mark Wielaard wrote:
> On Thu, 2011-06-16 at 12:18 +0200, Dalibor Topic wrote:
> > On 6/16/11 2:46 AM, Dr Andrew John Hughes wrote:
> > > On 01:37 Thu 16 Jun     , Mark Wielaard wrote:
> > >> On Thu, 2011-06-16 at 00:27 +0200, Dalibor Topic wrote:
> > >>> This Project will be used for developing updates to JDK 7.
> > >>>  
> > >>> This work will be done in a separate set of repositories.
> > >>
> > >> Please not yet another set of repositories. You can just tag the current
> > >> jdk7 repositories when you release/update.
> > >>
> > > 
> > > Yes, why does this need new repositories?  Please explain.
> > 
> > Sure. The reason for new repos is to ensure that the materials associated 
> > with the JDK 7 Release Project remain available long-term rather than get 
> > buried under JDK 7 Update materials.
> 
> What do you mean by buried? You just have to tag the repositories with
> for each release/update to get exactly at the source at that time. Look
> at how openjdk6 handles this. There is just one jdk6 forest with each
> update release tagged. That is a much smoother model to follow IMHO.
> Otherwise one quickly cannot find the forests through the trees :)
> 

I wouldn't use OpenJDK6 for comparison.  Oracle don't use it and IcedTea
only uses it as a base and then applies a mass of patches.  It's hardly
a central point for lots of development work, as I expect the various
OpenJDK7 branches will be.  If you look at IcedTea instead, you will see
we do the same thing and there are currently four active branches
(1.8, 1.9, 1.10 and HEAD).

This could have been explained more clearly to start with (and the whole
project notion just gets a bit silly IMHO) but I think it makes sense
now it has been explained.  It leaves the flexibility to still be able
to add a few security fixes to the original OpenJDK7 or an update
release, even after later updates have appeared with further fixes and
new features.

Not everyone wants the latest and greatest.  Some want a stable base
with the latest security holes closed.

> Cheers,
> 
> Mark
> 

-- 
Andrew :)

Free Java Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc. (http://www.redhat.com)

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