JDBC persistence

OK, I have submitted the first cut of the code (see issue 38403).  In 
some areas I was working in the dark, so I have quite a few TODO issues 
at the end of the package.html file; guidance on what needs to be 
implemented would be appreciated.

If you want to try it out, the easiest back-end to use is hsqldb 
(http://hsqldb.sourceforge.net) since it's pure in-process Java, and 
it's what I used for most of my testing.  I also tested with PostgreSQL 
(for which you have to specify BYTEA for the STREAMABLE datatype). 
Others may work out-of-the-box, but will probably require a setting for 
the STREAMABLE datatype.

Also, I'd like to run through the MDR test suite (especially the 
performance tests).  Is there an easy way to apply system property 
settings to all of the tests?  The test framework is quite heavyweight 
so I didn't see an obvious place to start.

JVS

p.s. Happy 2004 to all!  (if you're not on the Gregorian calendar, take 
a rain-check for your calendar of choice)