Proposal for Codec Package
(0) Rationale
Many software projects have a need to use various formats of data,
and to be able to switch between various formats. The codec package
seeks to encapsulate some of the most popular encode/decode
algorithms in one easy to use, well tested package. A base64 codec
is the first candidate, with others to follow soon.
(1) Scope of the Package
This proposal is to create a package of Java utility classes for the
encoding/decoding of various types of data. A base64 codec will be the
first implementation.
(1.5) Interaction With Other Packages
Codec relies only on standard JDK 1.2 (or later) APIs for
production deployment. It utilizes the JUnit unit testing framework for
developing and executing unit tests, but this is of interest only to
developers of the component. Codec will be a dependency for
several existing components in the open source world.
No external configuration files are utilized.
(2) Initial Source of the Package
The original Java classes (Base64, etc.) are splashed around
various Apache subprojects. We intend to seek them out and integrate them.
The proposed package name for the new component is
org.apache.commons.codec.
(3) Required Jakarta-Commons Resources
-
CVS Repository - New directory codec in the
jakarta-commons CVS repository.
-
Mailing List - Discussions will take place on the general
dev@commons.apache.org mailing list. To help
list subscribers identify messages of interest, it is suggested that
the message subject of messages about this component be prefixed with
[Codec].
-
Bugzilla - New component "Codec" under the "Commons" product
category, with appropriate version identifiers as needed.
(4) Initial Committers
The initial committers on the Codec component shall be as follows: