$Id: RELEASE_PLAN_2_0.txt,v 1.2 2001/10/04 17:49:14 rwaldhoff Exp $

Release Plan for HTTP Client 2.0
--------------------------------

Administrivia:

This document describes a plan for a 2.0 release of the
Jakarta-Commons HTTP Client component (for the remainder
of this document, simply "HTTP Client").  Per the
Jakarta/ASF guidelines
(http://jakarta.apache.org/site/decisions.html), this
document doesn't mean anything until accepted by the
relevant committer community via a lazy majority vote
(hereafter, simply "lazy majority").  Once accepted, it may
be replaced by an alternative plan, again subject to lazy
majority approval.

Non-binding votes (votes cast by those outside the relevant
committer community) are welcome, but only binding votes
are significant for decision making purposes.

Objective:

The objective of the 2.0 release of HTTP Client is to
provide a stable and robust release focused on standards
compliance, design clarity, forward compatibility, and ease
of use (i.e., with the intention of providing a stable
foundation for the further evolution of the HTTP Client
component). Specifically, the 2.0 release seeks to
introduce and evaluate changes based upon the following
(ordered) criteria:

 1. Freedom from defects (deviation from the documented or
    reasonably expected behavior).

 2. Compliance to RFC 2616 (HTTP/1.1) and related
    specifications.

 3. Interface and design consistency and clarity, ease-of-
    use, and ease-of-extension.

 4. Forward compatibility. I.e., the ability to add support
    for currently unsupported aspects of the relevant
    specifications or to add support for features that can
    be reasonably predicted without "breaking" the external
    (and to a lesser degree, internal) interface of the
    component.

 5. Functional compatibility with HTTP Client 1.0 (i.e.,
    if it works in 1.0 it should work in 2.0)

 6. API Compatibility with HTTP Client 1.0.

The 2.0 release should also include:

 * Adequate documentation (including both API-level/JavaDoc
   documentation as well documentation suitable for use
   on the Jakarta-Commons site)

 * A substantial unit and functional test suite suitable
   for ensuring the quality and compatibility of release
   2.0 and subsequent releases.

 * A clear demarcation of the "internal" and "external"
   interfaces within HTTP Client, as defined in the
   VERSIONING_GUIDELINES.txt document at:
   http://cvs.apache.org/viewcvs/~checkout~/jakarta-commons/VERSIONING-GUIDELINES.txt

Release Manager:

  Rodney Waldhoff
  (assuming no one else is really itching to do it)

Timeline:
(All days ending at 23:59:59 GMT in case of dispute.)

* Review Period
  Thursday, August 30 2001 - Thursday, 13 September 2001

  During the Review Period specific design, functional and
  contract changes to HTTP Client will be considered on the
  Jakarta-Commons mailing list, using the following
  process:

   1) Any developer or committer that would like to see
      a specific change (or group of changes) enacted or
      rolled back will suggest it on the Jakarta-Commons
      mailing list (jakarta-commons@jakarta.apache.org).

   2) Any interested committer that opposes a given change
      (or group of changes) is obligated to indicate this
      disapproval on the list during the Review Period.

   3) We will seek, but not strictly require consensus on
      each decision point.  If consensus cannot be reached,
      any committer may call for a vote to resolve the
      issue via a lazy majority vote.

  Since substantial progress has been made on a number of
  the objectives within the "rlwrefactoring" branch of HTTP
  Client within the CVS tree, it is suggested that we use
  that revision as a starting point.  Of course, no changes
  within that branch are set in stone. (Indeed, even the
  author of those changes has several things he'd still
  like to reconsider.)  One summary of the major changes
  in this branch versus the current main branch of HTTP
  Client can be found at:

   http://www.mail-archive.com/jakarta-commons@jakarta.apache.org/msg03954.html

  The Review Period may be closed before 13 September 2001,
  given one "workday"'s notice and lazy majority approval.

  The Review Period may be extended by one week (at a time)
  given lazy majority approval, in case issues still need
  to be resolved.

* Implementation Period
  Friday, 14 September 2001 - Monday, 24 September 2001
  (assuming the Review Period is not extended)

  During this period, any remaining implementation, testing
  and documentation will be completed.  No new features
  or "public" interface changes will be considered
  in-scope at this time (short of a lazy-majority
  approved revised release plan or any "showstopper"
  defects).

  At the end of the Implementation Period, a formal
  release vote will be called, subject to lazy
  approval.

  A formal release vote may be called before 24 September,
  but after the end of the Review Period, if appropriate.