Commons Logging 1.1.0 ReleasePlan

Background

This is an important release: JCL is very widely used in production but a combination of new specifications and widespread failures from vendors to adhere to the Java 2 classloading model have resulted in majors problems for the JCL 1.0.x series of releases.

Thanks to constructive criticism from Ceki Gülcü and new energy from new developers, changes have been made to the discovery model used by JCL. The current codebase is now more specification agnostic: it no longer insists on compliance with the classloader models introduced in Java 1.2 and in the servlet specification. It is believed by the team that the current codebase should solve those problems which can be solved given the design approach taken by JCL.

Status

Preparations for Alpha 1

Release Process

Most commons components use a release that uses multiple release candidates. Once the release is up to the technical standards required for Jakarta Commons releases, it is approved and released.

JCL 1.1.0 is an important release. Not only is JCL very widely used but the limitations of the 1.0.x series of releases has been widely reported. It is important that the 1.1 release not only resolves these problems but also does not introduce any new ones. It is also tricky to unit test situations involving exotic classloaders, so help from users of JCL is needed to verify that this new release works in unusual circumstances.

I'd therefore like to propose the following additions to the process. Release candidates will be produced as normal until one satisfies the standards required for commons releases. At that stage, though, the release will be dubbed commons-logging-1.1-alpha1. An announcement will be made requesting that users, developers and committers test this release. If there are no problems then a subsequent VOTE will be held to promote this release.

The release will be recut each time but no code modifications will be made without resetting the process.

Pre-Release Tasks

Anyone who wants to volunteer for a task, just add something

Documentation Review

Bug Review

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [31286|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=31286] _\[logging\] Memory leaks in JBoss due to LogFactory cache_ *FIXED*

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [32618|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=32618] _\[logging\] Enterprise Commons Logging : Globalization & more_

  • IBM's (through Richard) proposal which seems too much for this release.

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [35774|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=35774] _\[logging\] TCCL problem in J2EE Container_

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [36041|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=36041] _\[logging\] Include class loader information when Log{{`Factory}}{{Impl throws Log}}{{Configuration}}`Exception._ *FIXED*

  • Reporter has been asked if it's OK to close this issue.

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [36062|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=36062] _\[logging\] extended API: getChildLogger(String)_

  • The two Joergs have said on the dev-list that they are willing to wait until a later release with this one.

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [36927|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=36927] _\[logging\] Disabling of TCCL_ *Implemented, needs testing*

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [37067|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37067] _\[logging\] enhancement : add support for ant task logger_

  • Waiting for someone to create a patch.

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [37420|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37420] _\[logging\] Online JCL 1.0.4 API Javadoc missing_

  • This is a website issue. Someone needs to change a link. The process of copying the api-docs for a previous release should be documented, if it isn't already. FIXED

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [37427|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37427] _\[logging\] Redirect stdout and stderr to logging system_

  • Simon and Robert agrees that this should not go into commons logging. WONTFIX

• Wiki Markup
  Bug [37484|http://issues.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=37484] _\[logging\] call to getClassLoader() in Log{{`Factory}}`Impl not checked for null_

  • Might have been solved already.
    

Bug Fixes

Design decisions

• Do we remove the Servlet{{`Context}}`Cleaner?
  1. It's obviously controversial. Maybe the code could be put in the documentation somewhere, or on the wiki.
     
• Decide whether to merge the weak-hash-map stuff into the main trunk or leave it in an "optional" jar. If we merge it, we can do away with the optional jar completely which is good. However it does mean that if there is a bug in it people can't disable it. If bundled in the main jar there might need to be a little extra code to just ignore it when it throws an exception on load for java < 1.3.
  
• Sort out whether we split Log4JLogger into two classes or not. If we choose two classes, how should we name them?
  1. Rename Log4{{`J12}}`Logger.java back to Log4JLogger.java. That would make the upgrade transparent for the previous use-case. But there is the chance that this will not work at all for a user that is currently using JCL 1.0.4 together with log4jalpha-something and a configuration file stating that Log4JLogger should be used.
  2. Users who configure JCL to use Log4JLogger might reasonably expect JCL to guess the log4j version and use the correct logger. so, perhaps one option would be to create a delegating implementation.
  3. Same as #1 but kick out Log4{{`J13}}Logger, because Log4`J 1.3 has not been released.
• Decide our jar distribution strategy (in particular, whether we ship the optional jar or not).
  
• How do we give downstream packagers and users a fair view of the actual JCL dependencies?
  

Work To Resolve Design Issues

• eliminate optional jar DONE
  

sub-components don't work very well. in particular, i think too many users are going to get too confused by yet another jar. Weak{{`Hash}}`Map will go into the base distribution, other classes will be moved into contrib. perhaps another component (logging-extras) would be good or perhaps moving them off shore.

• clean up source DONE
  

demonstration will be moved into contrib

• improve support for downstream packagers
  

add an ant task that creates a distribution with minimal dependencies. create guide to help people understand the distribution with section on dependencies.

• log4j loggers
  

log4j 1.3 is still not released. the new JCL release cannot depend on unreleased code. the 1.3 implementation will be moved into contrib. Log4JLogger and Log4{{`J12}}`Logger will be shipped with notes that direct use of log4jlogger is deprecated and will be replaced by a logical logger when log4j 1.3 ships.

• Servlet{{`Context}}`Cleaner
  

this will be shipped. The critical issue was that projects which repackage JCL (eg by compiling with gcj) may not have an implementation of javax.servlet to compile against. However the commons-logging-api.jar project now contains all the stand-alone loggers, and this should be enough for most circumstances. Because such "repackagers" can create and distribute commons-logging-api.jar, it has been decided that it is acceptable for the commons-logging.jar to have a compile dependency on javax.servlet.

• IoC friendly design postponed
  

Test Compatibility

Verify that TRACE support works for Log4J 1.2.12+. DONE

Release Notes

Release Plan

Repository

Release Notes

Approval Process

Release Candidate

Post Release

Process Bugs Marked Later

Comments

Up to Logging