Influencing the standards which govern Derby

[Rick Hillegas]

I would like to understand how the community influences the standards 
which govern Derby:

1) SQL - I've been participating in Derby for a year now. Over the past 
year I don't recall any discussion about a need to change the SQL 
standard. We have proposed new language in rare cases not covered by the 
ANSI volumes. However, I don't recall any attempt to contact the SQL 
group and try to change their spec. Do we need to influence this spec 
and if so, how do we propose to do so?

2) JDBC - There has been substantial discussion about the upcoming JDBC4 
spec.. Fortunately for us, the spec lead is a member of our community. 
In several cases he has taken our viewpoint back to the JDBC expert 
group and advocated our position. However, we don't know who will lead 
the expert group for JDBC5. How do we expect to influence the next rev 
of JDBC?

3) DRDA - Over the last year, I failed to get a Boolean datatype into 
the DRDA spec. This stemmed from the internal dynamics and pay-for-play 
nature of the spec's governing body, the DBIOP Consortium. How do we 
expect to influence the DRDA spec?

If there's a general solution which covers all of these cases, that's 
great. If we handle each spec differently, that's fine too. I'd just 
like some discussion and guidance.

Thanks,
-Rick