JEP 255: Merge Selected Xerces 2.11.0 Updates into JAXP

Summary

Upgrade the version of the Xerces XML parser included in the JDK with important changes from Xerces 2.11.0.

Non-Goals

The JDK's copy of Xerces contains many changes and improvements that are JDK-specific. It is not a goal to completely synchronize the JDK codebase with that of the Apache Xerces Project.

Success Metrics

• Classes in the selected categories are fully updated.

• Incompatibilities are not introduced. Any conflicts with the existing JDK code are resolved so as to prefer the existing JDK code.

• Regressions do not occur.

Motivation

The JDK contains the older Xerces 2.7.1 parser. During the development of JDK 7, it was updated with all critical and many major changes from Xerces 2.10.0. Since then, Xerces 2.11.0 was released. Upgrading to the latest release will help improve the quality of the JDK implementation.

Description

Update the JDK with changes in the following categories from Xerces 2.11.0:

• Datatypes,
• DOM L3 Serializer,
• XPointer,
• Catalog Resolver, and
• XML Schema Validation (including bug fixes, but not the XML Schema 1.1 development code).

There will be no changes to the JAXP public API.

This update will be done in batches. Not every revision may be tested individually.

Testing

• Relevant tests in Xerces may be merged into the existing test suite.

• New tests will be developed to ensure sufficient coverage of the changes.

• Significant testing will be required to ensure that the update does not introduce regressions relative to the existing implementation.

Risks and Assumptions

Since the integration of Xerces 2.7.1 into JDK 6, many JDK-specific bug fixes, improvements, and feature additions were implemented independently of the Apache Xerces Project. This includes the incorporation of the StAX parser, which shared and modified the scanner implementation from Xerces. Some Xerces patches therefore may need to be modified to resolve conflicts.