Proposal for Digester Package

(0) Rationale

Many Jakarta products read XML configuration files to provide initialization of various Java objects within the system.

There are several ways of doing this now spread across various Jakarta projects which could all be moved toward a common implementation.

A Commons package would give committers an opportunity to coordinate their efforts to create and maintain a efficient, feature-rich package under the ASF license.

(1) Scope of the Package

The Digester project shall create and maintain a XML -> Java object mapping package written in the Java language to be distributed under the ASF license.

(1.5) Interaction With Other Packages

Digester relies on:

• Java Development Kit (Version 1.2 or later)
• A JAXP 1.1 implementation
• A SAX 2.0 parser conforming to the JAXP 1.1 APIs
• BeanUtils from Commons - for instrospection information
• Collections from Commons - inherited dependence from BeanUtils

(2) Initial Source of the Package

The initial codebase are an integral part of the Struts Framework. However, they have very few dependencies on other aspects of Struts, and those dependencies have been removed in the proposed code base. Once accepted and released as a Jakarta Commons component, Struts will be modified to use the Commons version of these classes, and its internal versions will be deprecated.

The proposed package name for the new component is org.apache.commons.digester.

(3) Required Jakarta-Commons Resources

• CVS Repository - New directory digester in the jakarta-commons CVS repository.
• Initial Committers - Most of the initial commiters are already committers on jakarta-commons,so the only addition is for user id sanders.
• Mailing List - Discussions will take place on the general jakarta-commons@jakarta.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 [Digester].
• Bugzilla - New component "Digester" under the "Commons" product category, with appropriate version identifiers as needed.
• Jyve FAQ - New category "commons-digester" (when available).

(4) Initial Committers

The initial committers on the Digester component shall be:

• Geir Magnusson Jr.
• Craig R. McClanahan
• Scott Sanders
• Rodney Waldhoff