jep

JEP stands for Java Enhancement Proposal, a formal document used within the OpenJDK community to propose changes to the Java platform and its tooling. A JEP outlines the problem the proposal aims to solve, the scope of the change, and the rationale behind it. It also describes the design and a plan for implementation, as well as potential impacts on compatibility and existing codebases. The document serves as a living record and discussion thread for the proposed change.

Contents typically include: Summary, Rationale, Description, Alternatives, Impact (Performance, Compatibility, Documentation), and References. A JEP is assigned a unique number and is written to be understandable to developers, managers, and project maintainers.

Process: A contributor or team drafts a JEP, which is submitted for community review. It passes through stages such as Draft, Active, and Final, with oversight by the OpenJDK governance. Depending on its scope and risk, a JEP may be implemented and integrated into a future Java release or it may be withdrawn or superseded by a newer proposal.

Scope: JEPs cover a wide range of topics, including language features, virtual machine changes, standard libraries, tooling, and deprecations or removals of APIs.

Impact and governance: JEPs provide a transparent mechanism to propose, debate, and track changes, helping to coordinate development across multiple teams and ensure compatibility with the Java ecosystem.

See also: Java Enhancement Proposal, OpenJDK, Java SE.