The JCP Election Ballot is OPEN. There are ballots for "ratified" and "elected" seats on both the SE/EE and the ME Executive Committes.  These are very important positions - for example, they vote on all the key JSR events. Voting period is until midnight (PT) on Monday, November 2nd. If you are a JCP Member you can go vote through the online Ballot.

The elected seats candidates for JavaEE include Liferay, Matthew McCullough, Tim Peierls and Terracotta.  Ratification candidates are Doug Lea, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Oracle.  More information on the election process at the JCP Elections Page.

The Executive Committee for SE/EE of the JCP has approved JSR 330, Dependency Injection for Java. This specification, led by Bob Lee @ Google and Rod Johnson @ SpringSource was submitted in May 09 and moved through the JCP process very quickly. The final vote result was 14-1-1. Congratulations to the leads and the EG on this important spec. There are still a few specs left to approve that will go into the umbrella JavaEE 6 JSR. The next major one is probably JSR 299, which was submitted ahead of 330 but was later restructured to leverage it.

The 2009 JCP Elections are here. The JCP has been trying to improve transparency with the new JSR 215 rules (JCP 2.7 MR); now it is your turn. Between now and Oct 14th you can nominate names for the two open seats (Java SE/EE and Java ME) here. Then, from Nov 20th til Oct 2nd, you can vote on the seats.

Check out the Call for votes and the Election Overview.

Java EE 6 will include JSR 330 and JSR 299. Roberto explains the changes: • JSR-299 will be updated to use the JSR-330 annotations • JSR-330 has evolved to take into account requirements from JSR-299 • Both JSRs will be part of the Java EE 6 Platform

Thanks to everybody that worked so hard to make these changes; obviously we wished this had happened earlier in the Java EE 6 cycle but the result will be an improved platform. We estimate that the final release of Java EE 6 (and GFv3) will be around November but we should have specific dates next week.

Check out Roberto's Announcement for details.

The Proposed Final Draft specification for JSR 299 has been submitted to the JCP. See Gavin's Announcement and Overview and/or download the document. Still unfolding is the relationship between 299, JavaEE 6 and JSR 330; see the comments at Gavin's post for some ideas, and you can also compare the results and comments between the votes for 299 and for 330. I'll post when there is something public to share.

The JCP EE/ES EC has approved JSR 330 (Dependency Injection for Java). The vote was 14 YES, 1 ABSTAIN (Red Hat) and 1 didn't vote (Nortel). Sun, Ericsson, IBM, Red Hat and Oracle all requested coordination between JSR330 and JSR299 (WebBeans). Check out the Vote Comments for the different positions.

Better late than never, I guess. Everybody (JCP as well as JSR 330 submitters) have committed to transparency, so we will be able to follow-up the evolution of this story. And consider Joining the JCP to influence this and other standards in your platform.

In a recursive manner, the JCP Process (latest version is 2.6) is used to change the JCP process. The latest set of changes are a relatively small Maintenance Release on the original JSR 215. Check the Formal ChangeLog or see this Summary by Heather.

The changes are emphasizing transparency and reflect best practices followed by different EGs through the years. IIRC, the first EG that followed transparency at this level was JDOM (JSR-102), led by Jason Hunter. In more recent times, I think that Paul and Marc have done an excellent job with JAX-RS (JSR-311). I hope the improved rules will encourage many more good examples.

One more JavaEE 6 specification in Proposed Final Draft: Linda has announced the availability of JPA 2.0 PFD. This draft includes a number of significant changes, including the replacement of an earlier version of criteria API with a typesafe API, support for validation, and a metamodel API. As pointed by Linda, the changes to the criteria API and the new metamodel API came through a proposal from Gavin to the EG; a great example of how the EG can pool the expertise from experts in the Java community, regardless of their company affiliation.

Download the PFD spec from the JSR 317 site and give feedback to the EG on this one... and the others that will follow as JavaOne is playing its usual role of forcing function.

The JCP has implemented the new "inactive" status label for JSRs. From the announcement: ... the new "inactive" status label for JSRs which we announced last month has just been applied to non-final JSRs that have not posted a milestone within the last 18 months. The JCP pages have already been updated; check out the JSRs by Stage and the full list of Inactive JSRs. The list includes JSRs led by large and small companies, Sun and non-Sun. Some of the JSRs are very old, some just break the 18month boundary.

I think this is a very good move; some of the JSRs should just be closed, but some others are very important ones and I'd love to see them make progress - browse through the list and decide by yourself.

The Executive Committee for EE/SE has approved the Public Review for JSR 316, the Java EE 6 Specification. The vote was 12 YES, 1 NO, 1 ABSTAIN, and 1 NO-VOTED; see Ballot Results. You can download the PRD draft, and, as always, your feedback to the Executive Committee and to the JSR316 EG are very welcome.

The Executive Committee for EE/SE has approved the Public Review for JSR 299 (see JSR 299 - WebBeans is Dead. Long Live Java Contexts and Dependency Injection!). The vote was 14 YES and 2 ABSTAIN - see Ballot Results. The voters raised a number of concerns but they all recognized the big recent improvements. Good progress!

PS. Bean Validation (JSR 303) was also approved with the same vote but with no significant technical comments. See Ballot Results.

The JCP process defines two specification processes. The changes to JSP 2.1 for Java EE 6 are done using the Maintenance process in the JSR 245 EG led by Kin-Man. There are two sets of changes: to the EL (Kin-Man's Overview, formal ChangeList), and JSP proper (Overview, ChangeList).

Both sets of changes are small; probably the biggest change is the addition of the ability to invoke methods in EL expressions. The review ends on March 3rd, please send feedback to Kin-Man.

Although I already mentioned the News on Friday I think it deserves its own entry with a more noticeable title.

WebBeans is no more; the specification created by the JSR 299 Expert Group (under Gavin King) has been revised substantially and has been renamed to Java Context and Dependenty Injection. Perhaps a less catchy name but, as Gavin indicates, this has been done... ...to better reflect the fact that the focus of 299 is the definition of services that apply to all EE component types, rather than the creation of a new component model Check out Gavin's announcement for an overview and download the draft from the PRD page. Also check out Roberto's commentary. The PR for 299 ends on Feb 9th, the EC vote is Feb 6th to the 9th.

This comment in Cay's Recent Post called my attention:

... the JCP has become increasingly irrelevant... ... most of us have simply moved on to open source Java technologies

I disagree with the implication that the JCP and Open Source are mutually exclusive. Although the JCP can improve - and Open Source can help there as shown by how the JSR 311 EG develops JAX-RS - I believe users benefit the most from the combination of a strong standards body and open source.

Many of the GlassFish Server new customers are an example of this interaction: they are replacing expensive closed source AppServers with GlassFish. The strong Java EE standard means that the transition is relatively easy; the transparency of GlassFish (facilitated by Open Source) further simplifies that port, and Open Source in GF also guarantees to the customer that the cost cannot be unreasonable - otherwise a fork would appear. The standard enables easy entry into and easy exit from different implementations and enables competition; Open Source injects good qualities into that competition. And competition is good for customers.

Very significant (forward!) movement on the Java EE 6 spec: Roberto reports that the JavaEE 6 Public Review Draft is now available for download from the JCP site. He, and the rest of the JSR 316 group, solicits your feedback at "javaee-spec-feedback at sun dot com". Two specs are available: one for the complete Java EE 6 and one for the Web Profile.

The new Web Profile currently includes the following specs: Servlet 3.0, JSP 2.2, EL 1.2, JSR-45, JSTL 1.2, JSF 2.0, JSR-250 1.1, EJB 3.1 Lite, JTA 1.1 and JPA 2.0. The list is not yet final, though, and there are three specifications that are still being discussed very actively.

JAX-RS has been very well received and is already implemented in several products, including our own Jersey. JAX-RS (1.1) is in the full JavaEE 6 but the EG decided it was too early to include it in the Web profile at this point. The situation with BeansValidation is slightly different: the spec just went into Public Review and, although it looks good, the JavaEE EG is waiting for feedback before deciding what to do.

The area that is still changing the most is JSR 299, previously known as WebBeans and now known as Java Contexts and Dependency Injection. Gavin and the EG has incorporated Extensive Feedback and the JavaEE 6 EG is soliciting feedback from the community on its inclusion on the platform spec. Please consider downloading the specification and providing feedback to both the JSR 299 and the JSR 316 Expert Groups.

Roberto also points that they are a bit behind but that a new schedule has not yet been created. Overall, though, these are very good news. Onward towards GlassFish v3 :-)