Project Proposal: JDK 7 Update

[mark.reinhold at oracle.com]

2011/6/16 14:31 -0700, mark at klomp.org:
> On Thu, 2011-06-16 at 13:51 -0700, mark.reinhold at oracle.com wrote:
>> ...
>>
>> I honestly don't understand the aversion, expressed by some, to the
>> creation of new forests.  Disk space is cheap.  What's the problem?
> 
> Changing names and locations is always a bit confusing. That is just it.
> And it is just that jdk6 is going so well and is pleasant to work with
> because it is just one forest with each update tagged that made me happy
> with that way of working. So personally I would like to see that also be
> used to continue jdk7 if possible. It would be shame to break up
> something we are used to that is all.

Using just one forest for JDK 7 updates isn't realistic.  That approach
worked for (Open) JDK 6 because so few people were involved and there
were no tight deadlines.  That won't be the case for the JDK 7 updates.

> Wouldn't it be an idea to instead of branching off for the next update,
> to branch off and archive jdk7 1.0 on a special release page/URL under
> http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk7/releases/1.0/ when we are
> satisfied it is finished, put some tar balls, the archived feature,
> milestones, builds and calender under it and then keep the jdk7 project
> as being the update project? From a developer standpoint that seems
> nicer to keep up with than having to change every time there is a new
> update just to keep on top of the latest jdk7 development.

Ah, perhaps that's part of the confusion.  The proposal is not to create
a brand-new Project for every single JDK 7 update release, but rather to
have one Project for all JDK 7 update releases.  So there's a one-time
change for developers who transition from working on JDK 7 itself to
working on the update releases, but no further changes after that.

> BTW. I am not dead against having a new project. If people feel that is
> the best thing to do to keep improving jdk7. I am just surprised because
> it feels much more natural to just keep using the jdk7 project to work
> on jdk7 stuff instead of having to go through all the trouble of setting
> up a new project and repositories. But I am sure you feel surprised the
> same way, just in reverse :)

I'm both surprised, and not.

- Mark