Public Access to JSF 2.0 JSR-314-EG Discussions Now Available

Caveat: Yes this action is long overdue, and many open source projects have long been more open than JSF is, even after considering the changes announced in this blog entry. Oh well.

My very first blog post on java.net, nearly six years ago, advertised the availability of Sun’s JSF implementation under an open development model. This was followed one year later by an announcment of the Java Distribution License for JSF, and another year later with the release of all of Java SE and EE under GPL. All of those announcements had to do with code being free. The process of designing the code is another matter.

JSF is designed using the Java Community Process. JCP allows the individuals who lead the specification teams great latitude in determining just how open they want their process to be. 100% openness is strongly encouraged, but not required. As mentioned in the discussion on Cay Horstman’s blog entry: “A Call to Fix the JCP Oberver Status”, JAX-RS (JSR-311) is a great example of a very open process. Another great example is Mike Milikich's Mobile Information Device Profile (JSR-271). At the other end of the spectrum, we have many more JSRs that are not very open at all. I don't want to name names, but you know who you are. JSF is somewhere in the middle, though I like to think we’re tending towards more open. As Cay mentions, our issue tracker of record is public. As I mentioned above, Sun’s JSF implementation is an an open source project. But as Cay also says, we need to do better.

Cay calls for:

  • Email and forum discussions are to be archived (unless there is some specific reason for confidentiality)
  • All versions of spec drafts are to be archived
  • Observers have access to these archives

I”m happy to announce that we now have all of the above items. For the first item, the JSR-314-EG discussion can now be directly observed by anyone (JCP member or not) by subscribing to the JSR-314-OPEN@JCP.ORG mailing list. For the second and third items, unofficial “Editor’s Drafts” of the spec are now available at the documents and files area of the javaserverfaces-spec-public project.

There is one way to subscribe to jsr-314-open:

  • Send a message with SUBSCRIBE JSR-314-OPEN in the subject line to list-request@jcp.org. The body of the message is irrelevant and will be ignored.

Any content previously sent the JSR-314-EG before JSR-314-OPEN was created is not publically accessible, but know that all future content, for the rest of the JSR, will be.

From the “better late than never” department, I have to point out that we're almost done with JSF 2.0! When you tune into the discussion, you’ll see that we're nearly ready to hand our Proposed Final Draft off to the JCP. I just posted an Editor's draft tonight and you can find it as a zip file or as a web browsable document.

Technorati Tags: edburns

7 Comments

  • 392 Guest Newbie

    392 Guest Mar 5, 2009 11:25 AM

    I'm expert member on some JSRs (includin Java EE 6) and I find frustrating not to be able to observe other JSRs (some even being part of Java EE6). Last december at Devoxx I talked with JCP's representative and asked them, at least, to allow people to observe any JSR. I posted an entry on my blog about this topic : http://www.jroller.com/agoncal/entry/everybody_should_be_able_to //
    • cayhorstmann-3071947 Master

      cayhorstmann-3071947 Mar 5, 2009 4:11 PM

      Antonio--I read your blog. I have no problem limiting email privileges to the actual experts, but the public should be able to observe the discussion. I don't know if that's how Ed has set it up. As Ed noted, JSF 2.0 is nearly done, so this is mainly a model for the future. //
      • javaserverfowner Whiz

        javaserverfowner Mar 5, 2009 4:33 PM

        I'll leave it for Patrick Curran to explain, but I do know that a read-only "jsr-nnn-public" email alias will be included in the default package for future JSRs. //
        • 392 Guest Newbie

          392 Guest Mar 10, 2009 10:38 AM

          good decision! It is good to see a more open way to get involved, even this is pretty late.. //
          • 392 Guest Newbie

            392 Guest Apr 4, 2009 1:15 AM

            I am observing your discussions now, and it's quite interesting. But It's still a pity that we can't comment anything or let our voice be heard. Sometimes I'd like to give my 2 cents. //
              • javaserverfowner Whiz

                javaserverfowner Feb 23, 2010 7:00 AM (in response to 392 Guest)

                 Thanks for your interest.  We are working on this very thing.  As you can imagine, the new steward of JCP, Oracle America Inc., is reviewing all of the items in its expanded portfolio with a view towards how to make it better.  I expect great things!

                Ed Burns JSF Spec co-lead.

                //
              • 392 Guest Newbie

                392 Guest May 23, 2009 2:28 PM

                I want to ask you if there is a reference documentation for JSF 2.0 as it's for JSF 1.2 (at SUN JEE tutorials) ? Thanks //