+1 This is a much better thought out response to Derby's use of external libraries for non core features. I especially agree with the following:
Bryan Pendleton wrote:
I think we need to be cautious about how we handle external libraries such as Xalan or JQuery in the PlanExporter functionality. Derby needs to run on an extremely broad spectrum of JVM implementations, and it also needs to retain its low footprint, both in code size and in runtime resource requirements. So I think we need to retain the basic principle that use of libraries such as Xalan or JQuery must be as optional external libraries that users can include if they wish for additional functionality, but also can omit with no ill effects (except perhaps the loss of some PlanExporter functionality). This is the way the other Derby XML-related features work.
