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FAQ: General JCP Questions
 
General questions | JSPA 2 questions | Procedural questions
 
General Questions
 
Q: What is the JCP?
A: Since its introduction in 1998 as the open, participative process to develop and revise the Java™ technology specifications, reference implementations, and test suites, the Java Community Process (JCP) program has fostered the evolution of the Java platform in cooperation with the international Java developer community.
 
Q: How do you become a JCP member?
A: You or your organization can become a JCP member by signing the Java Specification Agreement (JSPA). The JSPA is an agreement between a company, organization or individual, and Sun, setting out each Community Member's rights and obligations when participating on the development of Java technology specifications in the JCP. The agreement is located at the Becoming a Member page.
 
Q: If you become a JCP member, do you have any obligations you need to fulfill?
A: While there are no mandatory obligations, a successful JCP member participates in the JCP in the following ways:
  • Provides feedback on proposed JSRs and Public Reviews
  • Submits JSRs
  • Nominates people to be on Expert Groups
  • Leads Experts Groups
  • Builds independent implementations
  • Votes on Executive Committee ballots
Q: How many people are currently JCP members?
A: The JCP has over 1200 corporate and individual participants.
 
Q: Does it cost anything to be a JCP member? Why?
A: The JSPA carries a nominal fee to cover administrative costs:
  • $5000/year annual fee for commercial entities
  • $2000/year annual fee for educational, governmental or non-profit organizations
  • $0/year (no fee) for individual Members or Java licensees
Q: What is the Program Management Office (PMO)?
A: The Program Management Office is the group within Sun designated to oversee the Java Community Process and manage the daily running of the program. The actual development of the specification occurs within the Expert Groups. To contact the PMO, send email to pmo@jcp.org.
 
Q: How do I find out when a specification is available for public review?
A: Anyone with an Internet connection can review and comment on all specifications developed using the JCP, all proposals for new or revised specifications, and all proposed error corrections and changes to existing specifications. Reviews are posted as links from the JSR detail pages. For a list of all current stages, refer to the List JSRs by JCP Stage page.
 
Here's how reviews such as the Public Review, JSR Review, and Maintenance Review, fit into the JCP timeline:
 

 
Anyone who would like to stay informed about the JCP can join the JCP-interest alias. This allows you to follow the progress of specifications as they go through the Community Process. You receive messages when new specifications are proposed, when revisions to existing specifications are requested, when specification drafts are available, and when the specifications are finalized. To subscribe, send a message to listserv@java.sun.com with the following message body (the subject of the email is ignored):
 
subscribe jcp-interest Your Full Name
 
Q: What's a JSR?
A: A JSR is a Java Specification Request. This is the document submitted to the PMO by one or more members to propose the development of a new specification or significant revision to an existing specification. There are currently more than 90 Java technology specifications in development in the JCP program, including the next versions of Java™ Micro Edition (Java ME™), Java™ Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE™), and Java™ Standard Edition (Java SE™).

 
Q: How does an expert group get picked?
A: The JSR submitter (Specification Lead) has responsibility for the formation of the Expert Group, including selection of the experts for the Expert Group. Ideally, the Expert Group should be large enough and diverse enough to insure wide adoption of the resulting specification. Any representative of a JCP Member can nominate themselves to serve on one of the Expert Groups that write Java specifications. Individuals not affiliated with a member can also nominate themselves to serve on an Expert Group. The PMO forwards nominations received using the JSR web page to the Spec Lead, with an indication of whether the nominee is a member. In order to insure that all experts have agreed to the same terms for the sharing of intellectual property, and other terms of Expert Group participation, only JCP Members can join Expert Groups. Experts can:
  • Actively shape the content and direction of new and revised Java specifications (Expert Group)
  • Review comments from members and the public and use them to improve the quality of a specification (Community Review, Public Review)
  • Serve as the Specification Lead of the Expert Group and be responsible for choosing the other members of the Expert Group, and for completing the specification, its reference implementation, and associated compatibility test suites (Initiate a new or revised specification, Create the Community Draft, Complete the specification)
  • Assume responsibility for maintaining a specification after it is written (Maintenance Lead)
Nominations for the Expert Group are accepted from the first day that the JSR is available for review from here.
 
Q: What prevents Sun from controlling or dominating the groups that develop and maintain Java specifications?
A: Sun, and the other Executive Committee (EC) members, serve as technology oversight groups for the work of the Expert Groups. The ECs do not micro-manage the day-to-day workings of Expert Groups. Rather, the ECs have the opportunity to review the work of each Expert Group at well-defined points as their specifications proceed through the JCP. The primary function of the ECs is to ensure that specifications do not overlap or conflict with one another and that the specifications meet the needs of the industry segment for which they are being written.
 
Q: What is an EC and what is its purpose?
A: The JCP has two Executive Committees (ECs): Standard/Enterprise, and Micro Edition; each targets different markets for the Java Platform. Voting Members on each EC serve three-year terms. There are ten ratified seats, five elected seats, and the permanent seat held by Sun Microsystems, Inc. The three-year terms are staggered so that five of the fifteen seats are normally up for ratification/election each year.
 
The EC members guide the evolution of Java technologies. The EC represents a cross-section of major stakeholders and other members of the Java Community. Duties are:
  • Select JSRs for development
  • Approve draft specifications for public review
  • Approve final specifications
  • Review Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) appeals
  • Approve maintenance revisions and possibly defer some features to a new JSR
  • Approve transfer of maintenance duties between members
  • Provide guidance to the Process Management Office
For the list of current EC Members, please visit the Executive Committee info page.
 
Q: To what extent does a Reference Implementation (RI) and a Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) need to support a specification? In other words, do they need to implement and test everything in the specification? Also, what about vendor implementations--if a vendor says his product supports a Java technology, does the product need to implement all the APIs defined in that technology?
A: A TCK must test all aspects of a specification that impact how compatible an implementation of that specification would be, such as the public API and all mandatory elements of the specification. The Reference Implementation is required to pass the TCK. A vendor's implementation of a specification is only considered compatible if the implementation passes the TCK fully and completely. For more information on developing a TCK, refer to the TCK Tools and Info Page.

Q: I want to provide comments on a draft specification, but the review period has already ended. What do I do?
A: Feel free to submit comments on the most current draft of a specification at any time. The duration of the review periods in the process is more to ensure that the Spec Lead and Expert Group allow enough time for comments, rather than limiting feedback to a certain span of time.  
 
 
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