Scott,
The Jakarta EE
9 release itself can not include any javax.* packages. So, that is
out of the question. But, if the TCK wants or needs to support back
packages (such as Deployment), I would liken that to an App Server that
wishes to support past releases of Java EE or Jakarta EE. I think
the bigger issue for the TCK is that you probably need more than just the
APIs. You probably also need an implementation, and where would you
get that from? Glassfish? Since Glassfish is planning on pruning
Deployment from their Jakarta EE 9 release, would the TCK team step up
to support the implementation in this unique environment? Another
concern with this approach is whether the TCK has any other dependencies
on Jakarta EE technologies. We (Open Liberty) have found that attempting
to mix-and-match between javax and jakarta is an extremely difficult proposition.
I'd question how
many of the Jakarta EE compatible implementations actually rely on Deployment
for their TCK testing. We (Open Liberty) do not. It would be
good to understand how big of an issue this is before exploring the continued
use of Deployment in the TCK.
Personally, I'd
take a look at Option C and attempt to remove this dependency. But,
I have no idea on how big of an effort this would be...
I'll respond again after researching this more. The feedback given so far is very useful, as I wanted to know which options are valid.
Regardless of which option is used, the testing of Deployment (JSR-88) will be removed, as per pruning of Deployment. So, I agree that GlassFish 6.0, should not add Deployment support back in.
Scott
