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July 30, 1999 Updates for Java^TM 2 SDK, Standard Edition, v1.3 Beta

• Added the ability to write String objects for which the UTF encoding is longer than 65535 bytes in length. See Section 6.2, "Stream Elements".
• New methods ObjectOutputStream.writeClassDescriptor and ObjectInputStream.readClassDescriptor provide a means of customizing the serialized representation of ObjectStreamClass class descriptors. See Section 2.1, "The ObjectOutputStream Class" and Section 3.1, "The ObjectInputStream Class".
• Expanded Appendix A, "Security in Object Serialization".

Sept. 30, 1998 Updates for JDK^TM 1.2 Beta4 RC1

• Documentation corrections only.

June 22, 1998 Updates for JDK^TM 1.2 Beta4

• Eliminated JDK^TM 1.2 java.io interfaces, Replaceable and Resolvable.References to either of these classes as an interface should be replaced with java.io.Serializable. Serialization will use reflection to invoke the methods, writeReplace and readResolve, if the Serializable class defines these methods. See Section 2.5, "The writeReplace Method" and Section 3.6, "The readResolve Method."
• New javadoc tags @serial, @serialField, and @serialData provide a way to document the Serialized Form of a Serializable class. Javadoc generates a serialization specification based on the contents of these tags. See Section 1.6, "Documenting Serializable Fields and Data for a Class."
• Special Serializable class member, serialPersistentFields, must be declared private. See Section 1.5, "Defining Serializable Fields for a Class."
• Clarified the steps involved in computing the serialVersionUID in Section 4.6, "Stream Unique Identifiers."

Feb. 6, 1998 Updates for JDK^TM 1.2 Beta 3

• Introduced the concept of STREAM_PROTOCOL versions. Added the STREAM_PROTOCOL_2 version to indicate a new format for Externalizable objects that enable skipping by an Externalizable object within the stream, even when the object's class is not available in the local Virtual Machine. Compatibility issues are discussed in Section 6.3, "Stream Protocol Versions."
• The ObjectInputStream.resolveClass method can return a local class in a different package than the name of the class within the stream. This capability enables renaming of packages between releases. The serialVersionUID and the base class name must be the same in the stream and in the local version of the class. See Section 3.1, "The ObjectInputStream Class."
• Allow substitution of String or array objects when writing them to or reading them from the stream. See Section 2.1, "The ObjectOutputStream Class" and Section 3.1, "The ObjectInputStream Class."

Sept. 4, 1997 Updates for JDK^TM 1.2 Beta1

• Separated the Replaceable interface into two interfaces: Replaceable and Resolvable. The Replaceable interface allows a class to nominate its own replacement just before serializing the object to the stream. The Resolvable interface allows a class to nominate its own replacement when reading an object from the stream.
• Modified serialization to use the JDK^TM 1.2 security model. There is a check for SerializablePermission "enableSubstitution" within the ObjectInputStream.enableReplace and ObjectOutputStream.enableResolve methods. See Section 2.1, "The ObjectOutputStream Class" and Section 3.1, "The ObjectInputStream Class."
• Updated writeObject's exception handler to write handled IOExceptions into the stream. See Section 2.1, "The ObjectOutputStream Class."

July 3, 1997 Updates for JDK^TM 1.2 Alpha

• Documented the requirements for specifying the serialized state of classes. See Section 1.5, "Defining Serializable Fields for a Class."
• Added the Serializable Fields API to allow classes more flexibility in accessing the serialized fields of a class. The stream protocol is unchanged. See Section 1.7, "Accessing Serializable Fields of a Class," Section 2.2, "The ObjectOutputStream.PutField Class," and Section 3.2, "The ObjectInputStream.GetField Class."
• Clarified that field descriptors and data are written to and read from the stream in canonical order. See Section 4.1, "The ObjectStreamClass Class."