06.September.2006 - It's an exciting time for the Java technology. Sun Microsystems is nearing completion on a two year development cycle for the next version of its Java Platform, Standard Edition 6 (Java SE 6 platform), and is also getting input from developers on its plans to open source the Java Development Kit (JDK software).

When Sun launched the Java SE 5 platform in 2004, feedback from the Java technology user community was a bit surprising. Developers, partners, and customers were excited by the features and improvements in the new release, but they also told Sun, "We didn't really know what to expect."

Traditionally, Sun's development model for its implementation of the Java SE platform was an internal process. Sun worked on the Java technology and then released it to the community in a beta testing cycle.

The feedback on the Java SE 5 release resulted in Sun dramatically changing how it manages the creation of its implementation of the Java SE 6 release. "Sun has made a conscious effort to make the JDK release development process more transparent, and we've been going forward with steady input from the community. Since late 2004, we have put both our source and binary code for the Java SE 6 platform up on java.net every week," says Jean Elliott, Sun director of developer marketing.

In addition, Sun changed the job descriptions for its engineers. "Sun engineers now spend a portion of their time 'beyond the bits,'" says Elliott. "That includes activities such as blogging, writing articles, evaluating externally submitted bugs, helping build community infrastructure, participating in discussion forums, and speaking at events."

This helps ensure Sun is actively communicating with the developer community and gives the community an opportunity to interact with Sun engineers and provide feedback. Many Sun engineers are well-read bloggers

• Danny Coward, Java SE Platform lead, Sun
• Mark Reinhold, Java SE Platform chief engineer, Sun
• Ray Gans, senior program manager, Sun

Java SE 6 Platform Today

The Java SE 6 software is the first release built with ongoing external input from the Java technology user community. Over the past two years, developers have been encouraged to download the JDK software code, examine it, and provide feedback.

Every month more than 100,000 people visit the JDK 6 release community development project, carrying out approximately 12,000 binary downloads and 1000 source downloads. In addition, more than 400 code contributions, based on these "snapshots," have been submitted by external community members.

"When we released the first beta for the JDK 6 release in February 2006, the Sun engineering team expected to see the usual spike in feedback from developers and users. Surprisingly, this didn't happen," says Elliott. Upon analysis, Sun discovered that because developers had access to both the source code and the binaries early in the development cycle, many of the bugs related to new features had already been reported and fixed prior to the first beta release. "Instead of a large spike of feedback happening as part of the beta cycle, the problems were reported and cleared up incrementally both by Sun and through contributions from more than 40 external developers," says Elliott.

"What we started with the Java SE 6 release two years ago was a process to change the culture and attitudes of our engineering team and to create the JDK 6 software community development project. We're making progress, we're accelerating those changes, and they'll really take off once we open source the JDK software," says Elliott.

"As we open source the JDK software, we are determined to preserve and enhance the values that have made Java technology so compelling the past 11 years. And we want to move forward with the help and input of both the broad-based Java technology developer community and the free and open source software communities."

Moving to Open Source

At the 2006 JavaOne Conference, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz and Rich Green, Sun executive vice president, Software, announced that Sun would be opening the source of its implementation of the Java SE platform.

Sun plans to release several significant components of the Java SE platform by the end of 2006, with the remainder of a buildable JDK release expected in early 2007. Sun also plans to open the source of its entire Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME platform) implementation (both the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and the Connected Device Configuration (CDC)) by the end of this year.

"Sun's entire implementation of the Java SE 6 platform will be open sourced, although initially there might be parts of the platform that will be available to developers in binary form, if they contain encumbered code," says Elliott. "The JDK release contains more than 6 million lines of code. We intend to clear encumbrances as quickly as possible, and hope to benefit from the community's help. Our goal is to have a completely unencumbered code base over time."

Working With the Community

Sun contributes energy, funding, and code to numerous open source software projects, including GNOME, the Mozilla browser, and projects under the Apache Software Foundation. In recent years, Sun has dramatically stepped up the rate and substance of its efforts, contributing multimillion line code bases around which such vibrant communities as the OpenSolaris project, OpenOffice.org, Project Glassfish, and NetBeans.org have formed and continue to innovate.

With input from these and other open source communities, Sun is in the process of choosing an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license for Sun's implementations of the Java SE platform and the Java ME platform open source projects, as well as establishing governance processes. "Java technology has many stakeholders: individual developers, corporations, licensees, ISVs, and users. Balancing their needs will mean compromises," says Elliott.

Sun has created a new site where developers can learn more about Sun's plans to open the source of its Java SE software implementation. "You'll find specifics as to our plans and progress, news and opinion, blogs, and a forum where you can join in the discussions.

"We're not doing this in isolation," says Elliott. "We're taking the lessons of successful open source projects and using them to realize the opportunities that open sourcing the JDK release brings to the Java platform."