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Introduction
FAQ: Spec Lead process questions
 

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Spec Lead Process Questions
 
  1. Q: I share the Spec Lead role with X other people. How can I change the order of the Spec Lead names listed on the JSR XXX detail page?
    A: Multiple Spec Leads are listed alphabetically by last name/surname. This order is built into the site and cannot be changed.
     
  2. Q: Some of the experts on my Expert Group have changed their contact info. How can this be updated on jcp.org?
    A: The easiest way is for the expert to log in and make the changes himself. Any registered user on jcp.org can maintain his own contact information by clicking "My Profile" and then "Edit Profile" if changes are needed. Changes to e-mail addresses may take up to 24 hours to refresh to all servers, so don't be alarmed if the updates don't instantly take effect.
    NOTE that this cannot be used to change which company/organization an expert represents (see next question).
     
  3. Q: Some of the experts on my group have moved from one JCP Member company to another. Can I make those edits on the Expert Group private page?
    A: No. Each expert's account is tied to a specific JCP Membership, so editing the e-mail address will not change which Members are listed in the Expert Group. To make the change, notify the PMO of which experts are moving from Member X to Member Y, and that you approve their continued participation as representatives of Member Y. In parallel, have the experts submit new nominations for your JSR as representatives of Member Y. The PMO will remove the experts and, once they have submitted new nominations, will approve their addition. Then all that remains is for you to approve the nominations and the experts will be back on the EG with the correct Member affiliation.
     
  4. Q: The Member I represent as Spec Lead is considering canceling its JCP Membership. How will that affect my JSR?
    A: When a JCP Member cancels its Membership, all of its active representatives are removed from all JSRs and their accounts are deactivated. This means that you will no longer be the Spec Lead of any JSRs you currently lead. It also means that you will be removed from any Expert Groups on which your organization is represented. JSRs must find new Spec Leads or be withdrawn, though JSRs that have gone final already will maintain a record that your organization was on the Expert Group.
     
  5. Q: For whatever reason, I can no longer act as Spec Lead. How do I withdraw my JSR(s)?
    A: Your JSRs are not automatically withdrawn when you leave the Spec Lead role. If the JCP Member you represent will still be a Member after you leave, it is responsible to appoint a new person to act as its representative Spec Lead. Please make sure to communicate the identity of your replacement to the PMO at admin@jcp.org before you leave.
    If, however, the JCP Member you represent is also leaving the Spec Lead role, you need to attempt to find a new JCP Member to assume the Spec Leadership. The minimum effort must be to ask the Expert Group of the JSR if any of them are willing and able to fill the role of the new Spec Lead. If no one on the Expert Group (or any other JCP Member representative) is ready to act as Spec Lead, then the JSR will be withdrawn.
     
  6. Q: I'm ready to submit a draft for a posting. How do I do this?
    A: The Spec Lead Guide provides detailed instructions for submitting each milestone for a JSR.
     
  7. Q: I want to let the community know what's happening with my JSR. How can I do this?
    A: You may do this in a number of ways, such as posting to a web journal, blog, web site, java.net project, et cetera. However, you should always make sure that you provide links to those sites on the JSR's pages on jcp.org, as that is the place most people will look for information first. jcp.org also provides a number of ways to communicate with the community. As a Spec Lead, you can:
    • Post updates to your Community tab.

      Every JSR has an area set aside for Spec Leads to edit with up-to-the-minute information about the progress of their JSR, questions being considered in the Expert Group, and the like. You reach this by clicking the "Community" tab on your JSR's page. This points to http://jcp.org/en/egc/view?id=XXX, where "XXX" is the JSR number. As Spec Lead, you can edit the HTML of that page as well as post files for the community to view. For more information about updating your Community tab, you may listen to the audio recording of the Community tab talk (the tab used to be called a "Community Update tab").

    • Configure and use your observers list.

      Every JSR has a mail alias administered by the Spec Lead(s) of that JSR called jsr-xxx-observers (where "xxx" is the JSR number) which is intended for people who are interested in the JSR but who cannot participate on the Expert Group for whatever reason. As Spec Lead you must process the nominations that you receive for this alias, very much the same way you process the nominations for the Expert Group. To view the list of nominees, go to your JSR's Administration tab and select the observers link. A page will appear where you can vote to approve or reject a nomination. Submit the changes and the nominees you approved will have access to read and post to the observers list.

    • JCP 2.8 JSRs are required to provide a public communications "channel" and an Issue Tracker. If you are the Spec Lead for a JSR 2.8 JSR, you will have already created these two things, and you should be using the channel for all Expert Group communication and the Issue Tracker to track all issues relating to the JSR.
  8. Q: I've updated my Community tab, but I want to make changes to the old, out-of-date information on my JSR detail page. How do I do this?
    A: You may send edits to the JSR detail page to admin@jcp.org and the PMO will add these changes to the "Updates to the original JSR" section on the JSR detail page. When you send these updates/changes, make sure to send just the changed sections.

    Note that edits cannot be made to a JSR detail page during any of the JSR ballots. Also realize that every section of the JSR detail page and all changes to those sections will remain for historic record; they will not be deleted. In this way, the community can track the progress of the JSR over its lifetime: how the schedule changed, how the initial ideas may or may not have changed leading up to the Final Release, et cetera.


    9.  
  9. Q: One of my experts' e-mail addresses is bouncing. How do I remedy this so that we don't see many, many bounce messages in our Expert Group communications?
    A: First, if you have another way of contacting the Expert (or the JCP Member he represents), try contacting him to correct his own contact information (via "edit profile"). If you are able to get current contact information, you may wish to get a new expert on your JSR from that JCP Member. If you are unable to do so, you may request that the PMO attempt to find one for you.
    To make such a request, send a message to admin@jcp.org asking that the PMO correct bad contact information. The PMO will either find current contact information for the expert and correct it, find a new expert from the JCP Member to serve on your EG, or remove the expert. Note that you should never edit the expert's contact information to insert a fake e-mail address or note that the e-mail address isn't working.

    10.  
  10. Q: I looked at my JSR page, and I see that my JSR is listed as "Inactive"! What does that mean?
    A: The "Inactive" label means that no milestones for your non-Final JSR have been posted for at least 18 months. If your JSR does not post a milestone for more than 24 months, the PMO will approach you about withdrawing your JSR. Note, however, that the Inactive label is not intended to mean that no work has been done on the JSR: your updates to the JSR detail page and the Community tab, as well as traffic on your observers alias and any other discussion forum you may have created for your JSR, should all make your work on the JSR clear to the community.

    11.  
  11. Q: I want to add someone to my observers list. How do I get the PMO to add someone?
    A: As Spec Lead, you maintain the observers list for each of your JSRs. By default, any registered user can request to join your observers list, by submitting the form. As Spec Lead, you may review and process these requests from your Administration tab for that JSR.

    As Spec Lead, you determine the scope and configuration of your observers alias. Some Spec Leads use them as announcement aliases (subscribers can only receive messages), while others use them as public discussions (where any subscriber can read or write), and still others have some combination of the two. It's up to you to configure it.
     

  12. Q: I've heard a lot about the changes that have come with JCP 2.7, and I wonder: how do these changes affect me?
    A: There are a lot of changes. They are summarized here for your reference.
    13.  
  13. Q: I'm ready to submit a new JSR proposal, but I don't have the final license terms decided yet. What do I do?
    A: Do the work to figure out the final license now. Then come back to submit the JSR proposal form once you have the full license text for the Final Release Specification, Reference Implementation and Technology Compatibility Kit. JCP 2.7 and later JSRs submitted without the full license text are incomplete.
    14.  
  14. Q: JCP 2.8 mentions an issue tracker for my JSR, but I don't see it anywhere on the site. What do I do?
    A: You have to create one of your own, but we do have a guide on how to create one on java.net.
    15.  
  15. Q: I'm the Maintenance Lead for JSR XXX. How do I add experts to my Expert Group?
    A: Though you may choose to actively solicit proposed changes from the community for your Change Log, the Expert Group officially disbanded at Final Release. No additions or subtractions are made to Expert Groups following Final Release.

    16.  
  16. Q: I submitted a JSR but the people I listed as being on the Initial Expert Group are not listed in the Expert Group table and/or the Expert Group private page for my JSR! What gives??
    A: All experts on Expert Groups must nominate themselves using the online nomination form, so that it isn't just you saying that they want to be on the Expert Group. In addition, for JCP 2.8 JSRs, all Expert Group nominations must be made public, along with your decisions on the nominations and any discussion/deliberations on those decisions. This includes your Initial Expert Group.

    17.  
  17. Q: What has changed for Spec Leads in JCP 2.8?
    A: For a summary of the changes to the process, please refer to this 2.8 overview page.

    18.  
  18. Q: With JCP 2.8, am I required to allow public users to post to my Issue Tracker?
    A: JCP 2.8 requires that you track all Issues that have been raised with a publicly readable Issue Tracker. You may choose to allow the public to submit issues directly into your Issue Tracker, or you may choose only to allow reading of the tracker...as long as you have provided explicit instructions on how the public can submit issues to be logged.

    19.  
  19. Q: The schedule for my JCP 2.8 JSR is slipping, and I'm worried that I'm going to miss one of the deadlines! What do I do?
    A: JCP 2.8 introduced the ideas of deadlines for certain milestones in a JSR's development: 9 months to produce an Early Draft Review, 12 months after that to post a Public Review, 12 months after that for the Final Release, and the Maintenance Lead must set his/her own target for Maintenance Release when submitting changes for a Maintenance Review. The Executive Committee has the option of calling for a Renewal Ballot to decide if the JSR should be allowed to continue or be withdrawn when a deadline is missed, but these renewal ballots don't happen automatically. If the Executive Committee is made aware of your extenuating circumstances - for instance if you explain it to the committee represenatives - then they may let you set a new deadline without calling for the Renewal Ballot.

    20.  
  20. Q: I submitted my JCP 2.8 JSR; when will it go up for JSR Approval Ballot?
    A: If there is a problem with your submission, the PMO will contact you with a request for clarification or to identify the missing pieces, but the PMO will always respond to submitters via e-mail to confirm receipt of the submission. If you have not received such a confirmation, it is possible that the PMO did not receive your submission.

    Note, too, that JSR Review and the JSR Approval Ballot are separate in JCP 2.8. Part of your JCP 2.8 proposal indicated the length of time you wanted for the JSR Review, a review period that takes place before the JSR Approval Ballot which was introduced in JCP 2.8. So, once the JSR is posted, the review should be two weeks or four weeks before the ballot begins, according to whether you selected a 2 week or 4 week JSR Review. All ballots begin on Tuesdays, however, so your JSR Review will be extended to the Monday before the next ballot if 2 weeks or 4 weeks does not already fall on a Monday.


    21.  
  21. Q: My JSR has a milestone with a ballot approaching. What factors can affect when a ballot begins and ends?
    A: All ballots start on Tuesdays, and they usually end on Mondays. Mostly, the ballot lengths are determined by the type of ballot it is, as follows:
    • JSR Approval Ballot: 2 weeks
    • Draft Specification Approval Ballot (JCP 2.0 - 2.5): 1 week, last week of Community Review period
    • Public Draft Specification Approval Ballot (JCP 2.6 - 2.7): 1 week, last week of Public Review period
    • Public Draft Specification Approval Ballot (JCP 2.8): 1 week, immediately after Public Review
    • Final Approval Ballot: 2 weeks
    • Item Exception Ballot (JCP 2.0 - 2.7): 1 week
    • Appeal Ballot (JCP 2.8): 1 week
    • Renewal Ballot (JCP 2.8): 2 weeks
    • Withdrawal Ballot (JCP 2.8): 2 weeks
    • Maintenance Review Ballot (JCP 2.8): 1 week, immediately after Maintenance Review
    • Transfer Ballot (JCP 2.8): 2 weeks

    For ballots that take place at the end of a review period, the duration of the review period, taken with the fact that all ballots start on Tuesdays, can affect when the ballot begins. Review periods never are shorter than the minimum length (30 days), but may be extended to allow for the ballot length. For instance, a Community Review that started on a Wednesday for a thirty-day review would end on a Monday, 4 days after the Thursday that would be the actual 30 days after it began. In this example, the ballot would start on the last Tuesday of the review, which is actually the 28th day of the review.

    It should be noted that, for ballots that take place after a review period, the reviews that they follow may be extended to the Monday before the ballot begins. For example, a 30-day JCP 2.8 Public Review starting on a Tuesday would end on a Monday, extended from the previous Wednesday (the actual 30th day), making the review period actually 35 days in length. Then the Public Draft Specification Approval Ballot would begin on the following Tuesday and run for one week as specified.

    Two other factors can affect the beginning and end dates of a ballot: PMO holidays and the EC changeover following an EC Election. Both should be listed on the JCP calendar.

    When the PMO is closed for a holiday, EC Ballots may be affected. If a ballot would close on a Monday that the PMO is closed for a single-day holiday, the ballot is instead extended to the day after (Tuesday). Ballots will not span a multi-day holiday, however: instead they are postponed until after the holiday period. For example, a ballot will not begin on the Tuesday before Christmas, but would instead start on the first Tuesday of the New Year.

    Each year the Executive Committee Elections are held in the Fall, and there is a period when the old EC has left and the new EC has yet to begin. Ballots that would begin or end in this period are instead postponed until the new EC begins its term. This means that a 1-week ballot may not begin from the time the old EC ends its term until the new EC begins its term, and it means that a 2-week ballot may not begin the last week of the old EC's term but will be postponed until the new EC begins its term.

  22. Q: I'm a JCP 2.8 Maintenance Lead. If there are no changes to the list of implementations, do I still need to provide the quarterly update?
    A: Yes. Even if there is no change to the list, the list of publicly/commercially released implementations that have been certified as compatible must be provided to the PMO at least quarterly. Send it to admin@jcp.org.

  23. Q: I'm a Specification Lead and I wish to move my JSR to JCP 2.8. How do I do this?
    A: Send mail to admin@jcp.org with the answers to the following questions:

    Which JSR do you want to move to 2.8?
    Do all of the experts on your Expert Group agree to change to JCP 2.8?
    What is the specific URL for the document archive?
    What is the specific URL for the Issue Tracker?
    What is the specific URL for the EG communication archive?
    What is the description of your communications channel/how the public should provide feedback?
    How will you provide details of the Expert Group nominations for your JSR?

    The PMO will confirm receipt and follow-up with you on any answers that aren't clear. Once the answers are clear and the Expert Group agrees to make the change, the PMO will update your JSR listing to show that your JSR is now operating under JCP 2.8.