New candidate JEP: 336: Deprecate the Pack200 Tools and API (original) (raw)

mark.reinhold at oracle.com mark.reinhold at oracle.com
Tue Jun 26 18:04:17 UTC 2018

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.

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