JDK 13 RFR of JDK-8221264: Refactor SourceVersion#latestSupported

[Joe Darcy]

Hi Martin,

On 3/23/2019 11:54 AM, Martin Buchholz wrote:
> I'm confused about how an IDE would access the jdk(N+1) API inside a 
> JDK(N).
>
> Of course, the jdk build needs to use this API while bootstrapping the 
> JDK(N+1), but this seems to involve a lot of build magic and "interim" 
> modules, e.g. I see java.compiler.interim in my build tree.  But isn't 
> that all implementation detail of the build system?  Users can't 
> simply take a java.compiler module out of a JDK(N+1) and use it with a 
> JDK(N) can they?

An IDE would need to have a distinct copy of the JDK N version of the 
JSR 269 API as a jar file (or similar artifact) to run against JDK (N 
-1). The java.compiler module is upgradable and we run a maintenance 
review of JSR 269 each feature release to keep this possible.

This use-case has been with JDK 269 since its beginning.

HTH,

-Joe