The next major release of Java will be a modular one. Project Jigsaw, along with five other proposals (formerly called JSRs, now called Java Enhancement Proposals, or JEPs) have been slated for release in Java SE 9. While no release date has been given, this is the first official feature-set announcement for OpenJDK 9 and Java SE 9.

A major component of this release will be an effort to modularize the JDK’s source code. Formerly known as Project Jigsaw, JEP 201 was already pushed back from Java 8 due to the amount of work required to uncouple the various Java components and pieces from each other.

(Related: What wasn’t in Java 8)

In fact, at Java One last year, Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java Platform Group at Oracle, said that the dependencies were so tough to tweeze out that Project Jigsaw might not have even been scheduled for the Java 9 release.

But it appears, according to today’s news on Java.net, that Jigsaw has made the first cut for the OpenJDK 9 release. And it is not alone in this feature-set announcement: Also on board are JEPs 102, 143, 197, 198 and 199.

JEP 102 is for Process API Updates. It’s focused on improving the capability in Java to manage native OS processes. Currently, OS processes can be created, and their output can be directed to a number of destinations, such as a files or pipes. But beyond that, dealing with native processes can be difficult. The JEP aims to make tracking those processes easier, particularly when there are large numbers of them requiring tracking.

JEP 143 aims to improve contended locking performance across a number of benchmarks.

JEP 197 is for Segmented Code Caching: an effort to speed up the compilation process within various Java Virtual Machines.