[slf4j-dev] Separating API and binding

[Ceki Gülcü]

Hello all,

It has been observes that while SLF4J offers abstraction of for various 
logging systems through compile-time bindings, it bundles the SLF4J API and 
a particular binding in a single jar file. Thus, we currently have

slf4j-nop.jar
slf4j-simple.jar
slf4j-jdk14.jar
slf4j-jul.jar

each of which contains a copy of SLF4J API and a corresponding binding.

I think it would be somewhat cleaner to separate the API in its own jar 
file. Thus, we would have

slf4j-api.jar (just the API with no particular binding)

slf4j-nop.jar    (only the nop binding, no API)
slf4j-simple.jar (only the simple binding, no API)
slf4j-jdk14.jar (only the jdk14 binding, no API)
slf4j-jul.jar (only the jul binding, no API)

The only down side to this approach is that the user would need to deploy 
two jar files instead of one. The upside is a clearer separation between 
API and implementation.

Is there any opposition to this approach?

Your comments are most welcome.


-- 
Ceki Gülcü
http://ceki.blogspot.com/