The purpose of this feature is to provide a set of OMG standard APIs,
that can be used by J2EE Reference Implementation (RI) or other
J2EE vendors during development.

The current RI implementation uses private APIs into the ORB for the following:

        (a). set/get information using private interception points for security
        security context.
        (b). setting codebase during object creation in the object reference.


The Portable Interceptors provide hooks for the Application Programmers to
write their own code, that can be invoked at various points in the ORB. The
inclusion of Portable Interceptors APIs will enable:

        (a). the J2EE RI (Reference Implementation) to use the complete
        ORB implementation from the JDK core. Currently the ORB implementation
        is bundled with the J2EE Reference Implementation. Being able to use
        the ORB implementation from JDK core helps reduce the J2EE RI footprint.

        (b). Using the OMG standard APIs, the J2EE RI will be able to
        run on any vendor's ORB.

        (c). Any other J2EE vendor can develop their code using the complete
        ORB provided by the JDK core.


The inclusion of this feature as standard OMG APIs is dependent on the
Portable Interceptors FTF (Finalization Task Force) and OMG propose/dispose
process. We believe that this process will complete before shipping Merlin.
If the OMG process is delayed, we have a backup plan to not ship them as
standard APIs.

The Portable Interceptor APIs are defined by OMG Specification: orbos/99-12-02
The errata is specified by doc-#: orbos/00-01-01


harold.carr@Eng 2000-10-16