BIRT 2.3 Project Plan

Draft BIRT Project 2.3 Plan

Last revised September 21, 2007

Introduction

This document lays out the feature and API set for the next feature release of the Eclipse BIRT project after 2.2, designated release 2.3.

• Release deliverables
• Release milestones
• Target operating environments
• Community tested operating environments
• Compatibility with previous releases
• Themes
• Projects
• Defects

Plans do not materialize out of nowhere, nor are they entirely static. To ensure the planning process is transparent and open to the entire Eclipse community, plans are posted in an embryonic form and then revised from time to time throughout the release cycle.

The first part of the plan deals with the important matters of release deliverables, release milestones, target operating environments, and release-to-release compatibility. These are all things that need to be clear for any release, even if no features were to change.

The remainder of the plan consists of plan items for the projects under the Eclipse BIRT project. Each plan item covers a feature or API that is to be added, or some aspect that is to be improved. Each plan item has its own entry in the Eclipse bugzilla database, with a title and a concise summary (usually a single paragraph) that explains the work item at a suitably high enough level so that everyone can readily understand what the work item is without having to understand the nitty-gritty detail.

Please send comments about this draft plan to the BIRT Developer mailing list.

Release deliverables

This release of BIRT will focus on providing the same downloads as BIRT 2.2.

Release milestones

• The BIRT 2.3 Release will follow the Ganymede simultaneous release milestones

Our target is to complete and release BIRT 2.3 with the Ganymede Coordinated  release.

For information about new features assigned to each milestone please refer to the bugzilla database. The bugzilla database will be updated on an ongoing basis as the plan progresses.

Target Operating Environments

In order to remain current, each release of an Eclipse project targets reasonably current versions of underlying operating environments and other Eclipse projects on which it depends. 

Most of Eclipse, and all of BIRT, is “pure” Java™ code and has no direct dependence on the underlying operating system. For BIRT, the chief dependence is on the Eclipse Platform, Graphical Editor Framework (GEF), Modeling Framework (EMF), and on the Java 2 Platform that runs it.

The Eclipse BIRT 2.3 release depends on the following compatibility stacks:

BIRT 2.3 Reference Stack for JDK 1.4.2

• Java 2 platform Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.4.2
• Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary 3.4
• Graphical Editor Framework (GEF) Runtime 3.2
• Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) 2.2
• Data Tools Platform Project 1.6 (DTP)
• Web Tools Project (WTP) 3.4

BIRT 2.3 Reference Stack for JDK 1.5

• Java 2 platform Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.5
• Eclipse Platform Runtime Binary 3.4
• Graphical Editor Framework (GEF) Runtime 3.2
• Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) 2.3
• Data Tools Platform Project 1.6 (DTP)
• Web Tools Project (WTP) 3.4

BIRT 2.3 Reference Stack for JDK 1.6 (This is only a proposal and depends on whether various projects provide support for JDK 1.6)

The Eclipse Platform and BIRT run in a variety of operating environments. Testing is focused on a handful of popular combinations of operating system and Java 2 Platform; these are our reference platforms. Eclipse BIRT undoubtedly runs fine in many operating environments beyond the reference platforms we test. However, since we do not systematically test them we cannot vouch for them. Problems encountered when running Eclipse BIRT on non-reference platforms that cannot be recreated on any reference platform will be given lower priority than problems with running Eclipse BIRT on a reference platform.

For BIRT 2.3, the project team plans to tests and validate the following reference platforms:

Internationalization

Eclipse is designed as the basis for internationalized products. The user interface elements provided by the various Eclipse projects, including dialogs and error messages, are externalized. The English strings for BIRT are provided as the default resource bundles. Translations are provided with this release for French (fr_FR), German (de_DE), Spanish (es_ES), Japanese (ja_JP), Simplified Chinese (zh_CN), and Korean (ko_KR).

Community Tested Operating Environments

Compatibility with Previous Releases

BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with earlier versions of BIRT to the greatest extent possible. The nature and scope of some of the key plan items for BIRT 2.3 are such that the only feasible solutions might break compatibility. In other regards, BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with 2.x and 1.x. We also aim to minimize the effort required to port an existing plug-in to the 2.3 APIs.

Compatibility of Release 2.3 with Prior Releases

BIRT 2.3 will be compatible with prior releases of BIRT unless noted otherwise. The detailed compatibility statement is listed below. In this statement, "BIRT" refers to all BIRT components: BIRT Report Framework, BIRT Runtime, and BIRT Chart SDK.

API Contract Compatibility: BIRT 2.3 will be upwards contract-compatible with BIRT prior releases to the greatest extent possible. All incompatibility exceptions will be documented. Downward contract compatibility is not supported. There is no guarantee that compliance with BIRT 2.3 APIs will ensure compliance with prior BIRT release APIs. Refer to general Eclipse document on Evolving APIs for a discussion of the kinds of API changes that maintain contract compatibility.

The BIRT Chart UI API 2.3 is compatible with the 2.x.x API's but not compatible with the v1.x APIs due to a full redesign of the Chart UI in the BIRT 2.0 release.

Binary (plug-in) Compatibility: The BIRT 2.3 plug-in framework will be upwards binary-compatible with prior BIRT release plug-ins to the greatest extent possible. Downward plug-in compatibility is not supported. Plug-ins for BIRT 2.3 will not be usable in prior BIRT releases. Extension plug-ins for prior BIRT releases will be upwards binary-compatible with BIRT 2.3.

Source Compatibility: BIRT 2.3 will be upwards source-compatible with prior BIRT releases to the greatest extent possible. This means that source files written to use prior BIRT release APIs will successfully compile and run against BIRT 2.3 APIs. Downward source compatibility is not supported. If source files use new BIRT APIs, they will not be usable with an earlier version of BIRT.

Report Design Compatibility:BIRT 2.3 will be upwards report design compatible with prior BIRT releases unless noted otherwise. This means that reports created with prior BIRT releases can be successfully opened by BIRT 2.3 and upgraded to a 2.3 format.

Non-compliant usage of API's: All non-API methods and classes, and certainly everything in a package with "internal" in its name, are considered implementation details which may vary between operating environment and are subject to change without notice. Client plug-ins that directly depend on anything other than what is specified in the BIRT API are inherently unsupportable and receive no guarantees about compatibility within a single release much less with an earlier releases.

Themes

Continuing on the themes for previous releases of BIRT, the BIRT project's overriding release 2.2 theme remains extending the Eclipse platform to provide infrastructure and tools that allow application developers to design, deploy, generate and view reports within their applications. In this context, the BIRT project also adopts and supports key themes within the overall Eclipse planning process.

• Scaling up and Enterprise Ready The Ganymede Eclipse platform continues to improve on scalability and readiness for the enterprise. BIRT 2.3 leverages the support that Ganymede provides by ensuring that it is tested and it is supported.
• Simple to Use - BIRT 2.3 includes ease of use enhancements such as improvements to the BIRT report designer.
• Appeal to a Broader Community - BIRT 2.3 will broaden the appeal of BIRT by its integration with the Eclipse Ganymede simultaneous release.

Projects

Defects

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