Just discussed with Tom Elrod:

Where this fits in to the schedule depends on how it affects backward compatibility. If it can be introduced in the middle of the 5.0.x series without breaking the compatiblity guarantee, then it is not a high priority and can be pushed out from 5.0.0. Otherwise it needs to be in 5.0.0.Beta.

Three areas to consider in terms of compatibility:

1) Client to server. We are talking about a downloaded proxy, so as long as an existing client has the necessary classes on the classpath, there should be no problem. The key classes after a change would be from Remoting, and the remoting jars should be on the classpath of any 5.0.x-based client. So, probably not an issue here.

2) Configuration. Probably considerably different; need to examine if too different for a point release.

3) Compatibility within the target sets; e.g. some servers in a cluster using old-style targets, some using Remoting InvokerLocators. Managing this on the client and server sides.