New candidate JEP: 336: Deprecate the Pack200 Tools and API

[mark.reinhold at oracle.com]

2018/6/19 16:41:02 -0700, Peter <jini at zeus.net.au>:
> Mark,
> 
> Can Oracle deprecate the implementation but allow the development of the 
> specification to continue?
> 
> ...
> 
> If Java can retain the api and specification (and support the 
> specification) while deprecating the current implmentation, then the 
> community can use the existing provider mechanism to load any 
> implementation.

In general, I don’t think it makes a lot of sense for the platform to
include a complex specification with no implementation.  (Yes, there are
historical exceptions such as JDBC, but those were created in a very
different time.)

An API in the platform that requires an external component in order to
work is little more than a tease to developers who just want to get the
job done.  It makes for a weaker compatibility story, since the JCK
can’t test an external implementation.  Finally, it requires even more
effort on the part of those who sign up to do the maintenance work,
since now the specification and the implementation are in different
places.

- Mark