An endorsed standard is a JavaTM
API defined through a standards process other than the
Java
Community ProcessSM
(JCPSM).
Because endorsed standards are defined outside the JCP, it
is anticipated that such standards may be revised between
releases of the Java platform. In order to take advantage of
new revisions to endorsed standards, developers and software vendors
may use the Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism to provide
newer versions of an endorsed standard than those included
in the Java platform as released by Sun Microsystems.
Endorsed Standards Classes Deployment
Classes implementing newer versions of endorsed standards should be
placed in JAR files. The system property java.endorsed.dirs
specifies one or more directories that the Java runtime environment
will search for such JAR files. If more than one directory path is
specified by java.endorsed.dirs, they must be separated by
File.pathSeparatorChar. If no value is set for java.endorsed.dirs,
then Sun Microsystem's
implementation of the Java platform looks for JAR files in a
default standard location:
<java-home>\lib\endorsed [Microsoft Windows]
<java-home>/lib/endorsed [Solaris or Linux]
Here <java-home> refers to the directory where the runtime
software is installed (which is the top-level directory of the
J2SE Runtime Environment or the jre directory in the JDK).
The J2SE runtime environment will use classes in such JAR files
to override the corresponding classes provided in the
Java platform as shipped by Sun.
Endorsed Standards APIs
The endorsed standards for J2SETM 5.0
constitute all classes and interfaces that are defined in the packages
listed below. Classes and interfaces defined in sub-packages of listed
packages are not endorsed standards unless those sub-packages are
themselves listed. The Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism may be
used to override the J2SE platform packages in the list below,
and these packages may be overridden only by versions of the endorsed
standard that are newer than that provided by the Java platform as
released by Sun. No other packages from the J2SE platform API specification
may be overridden.
In addition to the packages listed above, which are part of the
J2SE specification, users of Sun's J2SE Reference Implementation
may be allowed to use the Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism
to override implementation-specific classes such as the
org.w3c.dom sub-packages delivered in Sun's
Reference Implementation. See the corresponding license for details.