> I think that we should probably have a formal vote now
This seems fine to me. I suggest reformatting the main paragraph to make it slightly more explicit that we are adopting these conventions incorporating these amendments. So I am suggesting something like this: Derby uses the "Code Conventions for the Java Programming Language" (http://java.sun.com/docs/codeconv/html/CodeConvTOC.doc.html) with these amendments: - space indentation (no tabs). - Derby does not discourage deferring variable declaration to the first use. - Lines should be limited to 80 characters - @author tags should not be used at all Note: There is a great deal of existing code that does not match this convention. Changes to existing code should match the surrounding code for readability, matching tabs or spaces as appropriate (see Tabs) . Patches should not have white space diffs. Code and diffs should be readable in context. thanks, bryan
