[Xerces2] packaging

[Petr Kuzel <Pe...@netbeans.com>]

Hello,

  I have question about Xerces2 packaging. It seems to me that having
both versions of Xerces at classpath at same time may cause problems. There are some conflicting classes defined in both versions of Xerces.
  org.apache.xerces.parsers.SAXParser is such case. Public methods 
have changed in incompatible manner. IFAIK Java binary compatibility 
and Package Versioning specs does not allow it.
  I would suggest repackaging the parser into org.apache.xerces2
subpackages or adhere to Package Versioning specs. From may point
of view a repackaging is preffered as it allows to have both versions
at classpath and switch implementations dynamically.

  Another packaging issue is bound to deployment stage. I am not sure
whether it is a good idea to bundle implementation and specification
into single jar. I mean that SAX, DOM and JAXP specs. Some problems
may appear if multiple versions of them appear at classpath as only
SAX allows to have both versions at classpath (besides DOM L2 Java
mapping does not follow the versioning specs as it adds methods
into public interfaces instead of extending them).
  I would prefer a zip or tarball containing four jars.

  Comments are welcome
  Ccc
  
-- 
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<a href="mailto:pkuzel@netbeans.com">Petr Kuzel</a>, Sun Microsystems
: <a href="http://www.sun.com/forte/ffj/ie/">Forte Tools</a>
: XML and <a href="http://jini.netbeans.org/">Jini</a> modules</address>