Several major backers of Java have proposed changes to
the Java Community Process (JCP), the Java standards
body, which will speed up the development of Java
standards.
It is hoped the proposal would open up future Java standards to
public scrutiny earlier in the development process, and push back
the vote on proposed standards until after a second review period,
said Onno Kluyt, director of the JCP Program Management Office at
Sun Microsystems.
A Java specification request (JSR) goes through several review
phases and has to be approved by the JCP executive committee at
various stages in the process.
Under the proposed system the first review will be open to the
public, and the vote will be pushed back until after a second
review period, which is also open to the public. This second review
period already exists in the current Java approval process.
Those proposing new standards, typically software companies with
an interest in Java, can put something up for review without
running the risk of getting it voted down by the executive
committee straight after the initial review, Kluyt said.
Under the existing system it takes about a year and a half on
average for a proposal to go through the standards setting process,
Kluyt said. The changes to the JCP should reduce this time.
The final draft of the proposal should be ready in November,
which means the changes could take effect late this year or early
next year, Kluyt said.
The proposal is backed by JCP members including Oracle, IBM, BEA
Systems, Iona Technologies, Symbian, Nokia, Borland Software and
Sun.
The standards process is used to evolve existing Java
specifications and to create new ones, to improve its security, for
example, or to add support for XML standards.