Proposal for Xalan-Java 2.4 release

[mc...@ca.ibm.com]

Since building and publishing the last developer's release (Xalan Java
2.4.D1),
I've been asked when the next offical Xalan Java release will be.    I was
initially
thinking of a release in October that would pick up some new function that
is being
worked on, namely:
    - integrating the common areas between Xalan and XSLTC -- to get us in
a
      better position to support XSLT 2.0 in both Xalan and XSLTC down the
road
      (the more common the code, the less work to do)
         - specific areas being investigated are DTM vs DOMImpl
         - serialization
         - extension framework
    - DOM L3 XPath support  (pending resolution of DOM L3 XPath
specification issues)
    - support for additional EXSLT extensions
    - upgrade to the latest version of Xerces Java

However, there has been a request for a version earlier than October so
that
the latest bug fixes, especially for variable handling, could get released.

So, the proposal currently on the table is to put out a release, called
Xalan Java
2.4 the week of August 23.    From a content perspective, this release will
essentially
be Xalan Java 2.3.1 plus the EXSLT extensions introduced in 2.4.D1, plus
lots of
bug fixes, plus an upgrade to Xerces Java 2.1 that is being published the
week
of Aug 20.

I invite you to post to xalan-dev@xml.apache.org to identifiy other
significant
enhancements/fixes that you feel we should advertise as we get ready to
publish
the release.  Better yet, those with committer status can start updating
the
documentation files in cvs.

Sarah McNamara
mcnamara@ca.ibm.com