Adrian Jackson wrote:
Trying to stay bug compatible with a reference implementation is a nightmare: it's like trying to write code that conforms to a spec you're not allowed to see that changes from version to version without notification.
Interop and platform neutrality is a nightmare sometimes. If the last resort is bug compatability so be it, but it is a last resort.
I guess the real question that our theoretical friends haven't been addressing is whether the implementation of the equals() method is actually something of any real practical importance.
Possibly not. Thrashing out a working approach for cases like these is though. I expect this class of issue will arise a number of times as Geronimo is developed. The problem always with systems is that each individual case and compromise is often not of practical importance but the collection of all cases and compromises makes for a sort of cancer.
Although some notoriously stupid bugs have been perpetuated by a refusal to fix them and potentially break code that relies on the bug in the first place (Java bug 4030718 springs to mind as an example).
My favorite example:
http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17021
:)
Bill de h�ra
