Le Mercredi, 3 mars 2004, à 10:27 Europe/Zurich, Chris Bowditch a écrit :Glen Mazza wrote:They're currently voting on the Cocoon side[1] to set 1.4 as the minimum JDK for their next 2.2 release. So far it looks good for approval.
I'm not so sure it does, look at the 3rd mail in the thread:
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=xml-cocoon-dev&m=107813002510299&w=2
and this sparks off a debate about how many users still require 1.3, etc....
You're right, this is only being discussed at the moment.
And if the switch to 1.4 happens, it will only be (AFAIK) with the Cocoon 2.2 release, for which there is not set date at the moment.
I assume this would be akin to 0.20.5 (and any updates--however minor they may be) continuing to operate under the current minimum system requirements, but 1.0+ requiring 1.4.
Also, there is a push to keep the requirement at 1.3 for the Cocoon core, leaving blocks free to require either 1.3 or 1.4.
That sounds like it might be a nice idea for a solution, although I can't imagine what portions would continue to require 1.3+ (1.2+?), and what would require 1.4+.
So it might be better not to let this influence the FOP decision.
-Bertrand
[brief anecdote]
The owner of my company would rather spend extra money/time developing a product so they make the lives of users easier, rather than make the lives of programmers easier. In other words, a switch to requiring 1.4 should not be done merely to make the lives of fop-dev'ers easier, but instead would be done to make the lives of our fop-users easier.
[/brief anecdote]
I guess I still don't know what the benefits of switching to JDK 1.4+ are to _users_ (see below).
BTW, if we don't raise the bar to 1.4 (min Sys Req remains 1.3 or 1.2) might a user running under 1.4 still get some of the benefits of 1.4? Or, alternatively, would it be worth the effort to maintain 1.2/1.3 compatibility & also include support for 1.4 features.
For my benefit (and others?) here's a brief list of "features" I think we can expect from a jump to Java SDK 1.4:
- performance enhancements (similar to the HashTable => HashMap change allowed by jump from 1.1 to 1.2+)[1]
- nestable exceptions which will make problem tracking much easier[2]
- the BIDI support[2]
- other AWT fixes and extensions[2]
- JCE by default (people will still have to get a RC4 provider though :-/)[2]
- And 1.4 has java.util.logging and java.util.prefs[2]
What other 'benefits' should we expect from making the jump to 1.4?
Web Maestro Clay
[1] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=fop-dev&m=100106134012939&w=2
[2] http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=fop-dev&m=107353819024636&w=2
