[8u communication] New changes for JDK 8 Update enhancement requests

[Seán Coffey]

As the JDK 9 GA date continues to grow closer[1], more efforts will go
into stabilizing the JDK 9 release. The latest feature release line serves
as a delivery mechanism for new enhancements that enter the JDK.

With that in mind, I'd like to propose a change to how enhancements
are ported to JDK 8 Updates.

Enhancements normally bring more code change and testing requirements
with them. With most efforts being focused on JDK 9, I'd like to
suggest that we recapitulate any enhancements being proposed for the
JDK 8 Updates Project. The proposed change just involves giving the
Project maintainers early notification of any proposed enhancement
work being planned for the Project. The maintainers can assess each
request and help make a decision on its suitability.

In particular here are the proposed changes for the JDK 8 Updates 
processes:

====
In Ground Rules: [2]

  In Rule 3:

    Changes submitted for a JDK 8 Update forest MUST go through code
    review, and MUST be approved by the maintainer for that forest.
    The maintainer of a forest MAY delegate that authority, allowing for
    approvals to happen in a more finely granular fashion - per
    repository, for example.

Add:

    If the change is an enhancement, then a separate enhancement backport
    request MUST be approved by the maintainer for that forest prior to
    the change being submitted for code review and final maintainer
    approval.

with "Enhancement backport request" linking to a new

   Enhancement Backport Approval Template:

    Use this template for requesting a backport of an enhancement to any
    8u release. Note that "critical fix approval" also needs to be
    requested for any fixes targeted to an RDP2 release. Enhancement
    backport approval requests for JDK 8 update releases MUST be sent to
    the jdk8u-dev at openjdk.java.net mailing list prior to requesting code
    review, and SHOULD follow this template:

   Subject: [8u$N] Request for enhancement backport approval for CR $NR 
- $Synopsis

   With the body containing:

   * either a link to the publicly visible enhancement issue on the 
bugs.java.com
   site (or its equivalent), or a description of the change in case that 
there is no publicly
   visible enhancement issue to link to

   * a rationale for why the enhancement should be backported,
   including the benefit and risks involved, what testing has been done, 
and what the results were.

====

Please submit comments on this proposal before 31st August 2016.

regards,
Sean.

[1] http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk9/
[2] http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk8u/groundrules.html