Thanks Simon,
Receipt acknowledged. I’ll get back to you in the next few
days.
Regards,
Mary
From: Simon Nash
[mailto:]
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:29 AM
To:
Cc: 'Michael Rowley';
Subject: Re: [sca-j] SCA-J package names
Mary,
The SCA-J TC
has discussed this decision, which comes in two parts.
1. The need for
the SCA Java APIs to change the package name prefix from "org.osoa "
to a different package name prefix that is controlled by OASIS.
2. The proposed
package name prefix of "org.oasis_open" to be used by the SCA-J TC.
On the first
part, the SCA-J TC recognizes the validty of the arguments put forward for
changing the prefix. There could be other possible resolutions to the
concerns expressed for using org.osoa, for example if the osoa.org consortium
were willing to transfer future usage of the org.osoa package prefix to OASIS.
However, the TC is willing to accept a change at this stage as long as
the new prefix is acceptable.
This brings us
on the the second part. The SCA-J TC is not willing to accept the
proposed package name prefix of "org.oasis_open", for the following
reasons:
1. The proposed
package name prefix does not conform to normal Java naming conventions.
Specifically, the use of an underscore in package names is highly unusual
and unconventional.
2. The proposed
package name prefix is hard to say and hard to type. When talking about
these APIs, it would be necessary to say "org dot oasis underscore open
dot sca dot ComponentContext". When typing these APIs, the shifted
character underscore would need to be entered. Both of these are
burdensome on SCA Java developers.
3. Precedents
(as far as they exist) suggest that this package name prefix would not be liked
by Java developers. The only other cases that I am aware of are some
CORBA package names in the JDK, and these have been the subject of user
complaint. (I was involved in Java/CORBA standards when these package
names were first introduced, so I am personally familiar with this issue.)
The SCA-J TC
understands that the "org.oasis_open" package name is the result of
applying the convention suggested in the Java Language Specification (Third
Edition, section 7.7) to the "oasis-open.org" domain name. In
order to produce an acceptable package name, the Java package prefix would need
to be derived from some other domain name. The TC has discussed some
options and considers the org.oasisj prefix to be suitable and acceptable.
This would require that OASIS acquires the corresponding domain name,
which is currently available.
You have
suggested that the only way to change this decision is by a formal appeal.
The SCA-J TC is willing to initiate a formal appeal if necessary.
However, before issuing this appeal to the Chairman of the OASIS Board of
Directors, the TC would like to know whether OASIS administration is willing to
accept its proposed resolution as outlined above.
Simon
Simon C. Nash, IBM Distinguished Engineer
Member of the IBM Academy of Technology
Tel. +44-1962-815156 Fax +44-1962-818999
"Mary
McRae" <>
Sent by: Mary
McRae <>
04/04/2008
04:36
Please respond to
<>
To
Simon
Nash/UK/IBM@IBMGB
cc
"'Michael
Rowley'" <>, <>
Subject
[sca-j]
SCA-J package names
Hi Simon,
After further study of this issue, OASIS TC Administration has reached the
following decision:
While the specifications under development at the OASIS SCA-J Technical
Committee are based on the original specifications from the OSOA
collaboration,
it is our understanding that the final specifications to be delivered by
the
SCA-J TC are not required (or even likely) to be backwards compatible with
the
original OSOA draft specifications. Maintaining the
"org.osoa" prefix may not
be needed or even desirable given such incompatibilities.
The argument that there exists a JCP precedence for adopting the original
package name when transporting it from one organization to another, while
true
in general, does not take into account that it applies to finished, externally
defined APIs marked for inclusion in the JDK. As far as we've been able to
determine, there's never been a case of a JSR that took some API from
outside
the JCP as input and modified it while keeping the same package name.
Moreover, the use of the "org.osoa" string in an OASIS technical
specification
seems inappropriate as OASIS does not currently own the
"osoa.org" domain.
Therefore, OASIS recommends the use of the
"org.oasis_open" prefix in order to:
- clearly differentiate the OASIS specification from the (possibly
incompatible) OSOA drafts on which this work is based,
- clearly differentiate OASIS work from other work that may be developed by
OSOA
itself,
- use a prefix referring to an OASIS-owned domain name, and
- address the Java name syntax issue you identified with the
"oasis-open" name.
OASIS will take action to ensure that future similar work will also use
this
prefix, to ensure consistency among OASIS specifications.
As with any other TC Administration decision, this can be appealed, as
spelled
out in the TC Process Document.
Regards,
Mary
-----------------------------------
Mary P McRae
Manager of TC Administration, OASIS
email:
web: www.oasis-open.org
phone: 603.232.9090
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