Sync'd HSX14 with latest shipping Sun HSX bits...

[Erik Trimble]

Volker Simonis wrote:
> Hi Erik,
>
> just a small question: what's with HS14.0b17 and HS14.1.b01 which is
> in 6u15-ea-b01. Will they eventually appear in the HSX14 repos?
>
> Regards,
> Volker
>
>   
My understanding is that 6u15 will be a security release, and thus, I 
don't think HSX14.1 source will be available publicly until AFTER it 
ships. HSX14.0b17 was the starting point for our Java-For-Business 6u14 
release, which won't be made public.  Most (if not all) of those fixes 
will eventually be made part of an HSX14 release and made public, but 
when I can't say.

We're still debating as to which HSX will ship with 6u16, which is the 
next general 6Update release.  In any case, I would expect (but don't 
hold me to it) that HSX14.2 will contain all fixes in both J4B 6u14 and 
6u15 hotspot. I don't know when we'll be releasing 14.2, though.

My understanding of how we do open-sourcing of 6Update releases:

"Normal" 6Update releases (which tend to be EVEN numbers):  this will be 
worked on in public, with community submissions; when completed, the 
repo will be frozen and the HSX version shipped.

"Performance" releases (generally EVEN numbers with "p" appended):  
additional performance-related enhancements are added, not all of which 
are completely stable. Often, this is where we take the latest Open7 
Hotspot and try to stabilize it enough for 6Update.  If we're not doing 
that, then we're back-porting certain performance-specific 
enhancements.  In most cases, these releases are NEVER made public, as 
they tend to be for benchmark submissions; also, they tend to be 
point-in-time drops of the code, and we don't do much stabilization work 
on them, so they're not really Super-Stability-Guarantied.

"Security" releases (generally ODD numbers):  are based off the 
preceding Normal release, and encompass known security bugfixes.  We 
tend to work on these releases in private (with community submissions 
welcome), and then release the source upon shipment of the finished release.

"Java-for-Business" releases (which tend to be EVEN numbers with "-rev" 
added):  like Security releases, they are based on a certain Normal 
release. However, we fix certain issues that companies with the 
appropriate support contracts want.  J4B release sources are NEVER made 
public, and we tend to distribute the binaries only to contract 
customers.  Many of these fixes may make their way into a Normal release 
at some point, but some won't.  The reason behind this is that some of 
these fixes aren't generally applicable for a wide audience, and indeed, 
are sometimes detrimental for general use.

One-offs:  For certain customers, we'll fix individual issues, in which 
case they get a custom built JDK specifically for that customer.  These 
obviously aren't public, and not available to anyone except the 
requesting customer.   Even more than J4B releases, it is unlikely that 
fixes in such custom builds will be rolled into a "mainstream" release, 
as they tend to be highly specific issues.


Please don't take this to be an Official Declaration; this is just my 
understanding so far, and given the very fluid nature of how the 6Open 
stuff is being handled, I could very well be wrong.

-- 
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop:  usca22-123
Phone:  x17195
Santa Clara, CA