Java Web Services Architecture (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)

The JAXP RI, including the JAXP bundled with J2SE 1.4 RI, uses the Apache XML project software as the implementation; namely, Xerces and Xalan. Since JAXP is now bundled with J2SE 1.4, a common question from developers is about upgrading the implementation. J2SE 1.4 provides an "Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism," which can be used to override very specific, non-core packages in the JDK itself. The new JAR files can be placed in a specific directory and passed to the JVM using a system property java.endorsed.dirs (for example, -Djava.endorsed.dirs=/usr/home/jar/).

Details about the Endorsed Standards Override Mechanism can be found at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/docs/guide/standards.