We kicked of a J2SE project today at the ASF. If the Incubator PMC approves, we're on our way. Here's the proposal. Please come and participate.

Project Harmony
===================

Motivation
----------

There is a clear need for an open-source version of Java 2, 
Standard Edition (J2SE) runtime platform, and there are many 
ongoing efforts to produce solutions (Kaffe, Classpath, etc).  
There are also efforts that provide alternative approaches to
execution of Java bytecode (GCJ and IKVM).  All of these efforts 
provide a diversity of solutions, which is healthy, but barriers 
exist which prevent these efforts from reaching a greater potential.

Proposal
--------

We propose that we create a new Apache project, Harmony, that will achieve
the following goals :

1) create a Compatible, independent implementation of J2SE 5 
  under the Apache License v2

2) create a community-developed modular runtime (VM and class library)
  architecture to allow independent implementations to share runtime 
  components, and allow independent innovation in runtime components

In doing so, we intend to create a broad, collaborative community of
contributors, implementors and users of the modular platform specification.

To begin, we propose the following as a basic architectural blueprint 
as a starting point for our discussion :

     http://people.apache.org/~geirm/harmony.jpg

We will create directly, via inclusion of independent third-party code, or 
through contribution :

a) a freely implementable specification of a modular VM 
  and class library that allows for multiple, independent 
  implementations 

b) a test suite for interoperability testing of the modules

c) an implementation under the Apache License of the modular VM

d) a class library under the Apache License compatible with 
  the J2SE 5 specification that implements the defined interfaces

We will start with this mechanism because we desire to :

- have a simple plan upon which coding can immediately begin

- ensure that we have a focal point to begin the conversation 
  among interested members of the community

- have a clearly defined set of technical needs to allow
  potential contributors, either code contributors or 
  individual participants, a basis for consideration

- ensure that this is a community effort - together we will 
  architect and implement via fresh new code or donation

- produce a set of specifications/designs allowing multiple 
  interoperable implementations that allow for sharing, 
  extension and innovation

We propose that the following people are considered the starting
participants. This set represents members from across the community, 
this diversity a factor we wish to start with and preserve as we grow.  

These individuals have expressed an interest in participating in the 
architecture and design work.  The information in parenthesis indicates 
other community participation or relevant experiences of that individual :

  Guy Churchward (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Joakim Dahlstedt (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Jeroen Frijters (IKVM)
  Geir Magnusson Jr. (Apache)
  Ricardo Morin (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Georges Saab (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Bruno Souza (SOUJava)
  Davanum Srinivas (Apache)
  Dalibor Topic (Kaffe)
  Tom Tromey (GCJ)
  Weldon Washburn (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Mark Wielaard (Classpath)

and the following individuals have expressed interest in participating 
as committers for the Apache-licensed implementation :

  Jeroen Frijters (IKVM)
  Ben Laurie (Apache)
  Geir Magnusson Jr. (Apache)
  Ricardo Morin (individual w/ commercial VM experience)
  Bruno Souza (SOUJava)
  Davanum Srinivas (Apache)
  Dalibor Topic (Kaffe)
  Tom Tromey (GCJ)
  Weldon Washburn (individual w/ commercial VM experience)

These individuals will participate as Incubator Mentors :

  Noel Bergman
  Ben Laurie
  Geir Magnusson Jr.
  Stefano Mazzocchi
  Sam Ruby
  Leo Simons
  Davanum Srinivas

The following Apache Members will be the sponsoring members :

  Noel Bergman
  Jason Hunter
  Ben Laurie
  Ted Leung
  Geir Magnusson Jr.
  Stefano Mazzocchi
  Sam Ruby
  Leo Simons
  Davanum Srinivas

The following community members support this effort :

  Danese Cooper
  Brian Goetz
  Doug Lea
  
Operating Considerations
------------------------

0) We have established a list for discussions.  Unless your 
comment is directed to the general Incubator community or the 
Incubator PMC, please post everything to :

    harmony-dev@incubator.apache.org

You can subscribe by sending an email to 

    harmony-dev-subscribe@incubator.apache.org

Until this proposal has been accepted by the Apache Incubator PMC, 
these lists are provisional.

1) Due to the various known and unknown risk factors of this project,
we propose that in addition to the required Individual Contributor License 
Agreement (ICLA) we shall require that any committer to Harmony will 
have a Corporate Contributor License Agreement (CCLA), when appropriate, 
on file with the ASF Secretary, and will keep that document current with 
respect to current employer to preserve committer status.  We do this 
in order to help protect the community, both contributors and users, 
from unauthorized incorporation of code or other intellectual property.

2) Historically, there has been wide exposure to VM and class-library-specific 
source code that is the property of Sun Microsystems as well as others, as 
it is common for commercial J2SE implementations to be based on licensed 
Sun code.  We wish to make every effort to ensure that the licenses and 
rights of external projects and efforts is properly respected.  To that end, 
we will explore additional ways to work with the Apache Incubator to ensure 
that all IP is carefully monitored and tracked as it enters the project.