FOP Specialized Classloader: Request for Help (Was:RE: Fop and JDK1.2)

[Rhett Aultman <Ra...@fcci-group.com>]

Comments below.

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter B. West [mailto:pbwest@powerup.com.au]
Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 10:17 AM
To: fop-dev@xml.apache.org
Subject: Re: Fop and JDK1.2


The discussion has thrown up some interesting points, and I hope to see 
Rhett get involved in this soon.

I hope also that the work Rhett is talking about will give us a solid 
framework for changes to our support framework, both with the JVM and 
possibly with the frequently changing jars that we bundle.  There may be 
other initiatives happening within Apache on that front.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I think a multiplexing classloader would give us a really serious boost with regard to flexibility.  This is going to be an extremely important issue not only as JVM versions become more important, but also as the differences between each vendor interpretation of the VM becomes apparrent.  By supplying a classloader that can, based on various properties, deduce the correct class to load, we can keep FOP's implementation disentangled from most of these concerns.

The actual act of selecting the correct location for loading a class is really not that hard, but a classloader that makes decisions for FOP is something that's going to also need someone with good experience in FOP development.  Currently, that person isn't me.  I think that maybe if I and someone who's a more core FOP developer could get together in private email we could get a good structure for this classloader hammered out.  From there, implementation of it would be pretty easy for me to handle.

So, is anyone game?  Like I said, I can write it, but if I design this thing in a vacuum, it may not be nearly as good as it could be.


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Re: FOP Specialized Classloader: Request for Help (Was:RE: Fop and JDK1.2)

["Peter B. West" <pb...@powerup.com.au>]

Rhett,

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you on this one.  In order 
that this not slip completely through the cracks, please put a request 
for enhancement (RFE) in Bugzilla.  You can pretty much copy your 
comments from this message into the RFE.  If you have had any further 
thoughts on the matter, generate attachment to the RFE detailing them. 
If you have used bugzilla before, you will know what I mean.  If not, 
take a look and refer any questions back here or to me.

Peter

Rhett Aultman wrote:
> Comments below.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter B. West [mailto:pbwest@powerup.com.au]
> 
> The discussion has thrown up some interesting points, and I hope to see 
> Rhett get involved in this soon.
> 
> I hope also that the work Rhett is talking about will give us a solid 
> framework for changes to our support framework, both with the JVM and 
> possibly with the frequently changing jars that we bundle.  There may be 
> other initiatives happening within Apache on that front.
> 
> 
> 
> I think a multiplexing classloader would give us a really serious boost with regard to flexibility.  This is going to be an extremely important issue not only as JVM versions become more important, but also as the differences between each vendor interpretation of the VM becomes apparrent.  By supplying a classloader that can, based on various properties, deduce the correct class to load, we can keep FOP's implementation disentangled from most of these concerns.
> 
> The actual act of selecting the correct location for loading a class is really not that hard, but a classloader that makes decisions for FOP is something that's going to also need someone with good experience in FOP development.  Currently, that person isn't me.  I think that maybe if I and someone who's a more core FOP developer could get together in private email we could get a good structure for this classloader hammered out.  From there, implementation of it would be pretty easy for me to handle.
> 
> So, is anyone game?  Like I said, I can write it, but if I design this thing in a vacuum, it may not be nearly as good as it could be.

-- 
Peter B. West  pbwest@powerup.com.au  http://powerup.com.au/~pbwest
"Lord, to whom shall we go?"


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