[libvirt] [libvirt-java] state of affairs

Hi. It seems the Java wrapper is nearly dead. It has fallen way behind libvirt development. [in my local tree, there're still 120 libvirt API functions missing from the Java interface which /probably/ are worth to be added] I have send a few patches to the list, but no one is willing / able to review them. Some of those patches date almost a year back. Slowly I'm getting a bit frustrated and maybe also a tad impatient... Currently, I'm having +60 commits in my local git tree. As you might imagine, I'd really like to get these off my back. That's why I'm asking myself whether the ACKing / NACKing of patches is the right model for libvirt-java, given that there is, apparently, very little interest and at the same time next to nobody with good Java expertise on the list. Additionally, there are a few glitches in the API which are a thorn in my side ever since I began using the libvirt Java wrapper. It's obvious that the wrapper was written without much thinking about the Java environment and API. Some functions have only been wrapped just because it was possible or perhaps to just have a full coverage of libvirt version x.y.z, without any real use for a Java programmer. Do we really have to live with the failures of the past? I'd really like to fix these even if that means *breaking* the API. IMO, this would not be that bad in the Java world. It's not like that you suddenly happen to have an updated dynamic library on the system that's missing some symbols or has it's ABI changed which makes your program crash. Java libraries come with the API bundled and you get an error at the earliest time possible - at compilation time. Even if you upgrade a jar without recompiling your program you'll get a nice RuntimeException instead of undefined behavior. So, I'd say just bump the major or minor version up to the next number and send out a big "SORRY, we messed up" to everyone and be done with it. Alternatively, change the package and the artifact name to libvirt2 effectively creating some sort of fork?! But, given that there's not much review on list, failures are likely to happen again and the same situation would arise anew. Thank you. Claudio -- AV-Test GmbH, Henricistraße 20, 04155 Leipzig, Germany Phone: +49 341 265 310 19 Web:<http://www.av-test.org> Eingetragen am / Registered at: Amtsgericht Stendal (HRB 114076) Geschaeftsfuehrer (CEO): Andreas Marx, Guido Habicht, Maik Morgenstern