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Proposal for the Commons XML Package
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0. Rationale
------------

Many Apache projects have implemented utility classes for working with
XML documents and the Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) interfaces. These
classes can encapsulate years of experience with XML processing, but they
can be hard to find and reuse outside the originating project. It would be
beneficial to have a well maintained shared library of such code.

Various Apache projects like Xerces and Cocoon have been suggested as
appropriate places where such a shared library could be developed and
maintained. No clear consensus has however been reached on this matter.
For now the plan is to just start collecting initial code and interested
contributors in the Commons sandbox. We can revisit the question of the
eventual location of this codebase once it is clearer what code will be
included and who are most interested in developing and maintaining the code.

1. Scope of the Package
------------------------

The Commons XML package will contain utility code designed to make
working with JAXP easier. The goal is to work with the existing JAXP
infrastructure instead of trying to come up with an alternative.

1.5 Interaction With Other Packages

The Commons XML package will depend only on the Java 5 platform and the JAXP
interfaces included in it. No external dependencies or configuration files
will be used.

2. Initial Source of the Package
--------------------------------

The initial code of the Commmons XML package will be collected from
various Apache projects like Tika, Cocoon and Jackrabbit.

The code will be placed within the org.apache.commons.xml package.
Subpackages for specific types of code like SAX or DOM utilities will
be created as appropriate.

3. Required Commons Resources
-----------------------------

Version Control
  The Commons XML codebase is located in the "xml" directory
  inside the Commons Sandbox tree. The codebase can be found at:
  https://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/commons/sandbox/xml/trunk/

Mailing List
  Discussions about the Commons XML package will take place on the
  dev@commons.apache.org mailing list. The subject lines of related
  messages should prefixed with [xml].

Issue Tracker
  No issue tracker will be set up for now. We can decide where and
  how to track issues once the future location of the package becomes
  clearer.

4. Initial Committers
---------------------

The proposal is currently being driven by Jukka Zitting, but any
Apache committer is welcome to join the effort.