JEP 182: Policy for Retiring javac -source and -target Options

[Remi Forax]

I think the set of supported source/target should not change until after a LTS.
Because we should minimize the change in the tooling to upgrade from a release to another one, otherwise, we are defeating the purpose of a 6 month release cadence.

So i propose that for each release just after a LTS, we may decide to revisit the supported versions of --source/--target/--release.

cheers,
Rémi

----- Mail original -----
> De: "joe darcy" <joe.darcy at oracle.com>
> À: "Gunnar Morling" <gunnar at hibernate.org>, "compiler-dev" <compiler-dev at openjdk.java.net>
> Envoyé: Samedi 11 Janvier 2020 19:07:42
> Objet: Re: JEP 182: Policy for Retiring javac -source and -target Options

> Hello,
> 
> In the corresponding JBS issue,
> 
>     https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8046172
> 
> a comment states
> 
>> Note that with the six month release cadence
>> (http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/discuss/2017-September/004281.html)
>> being used starting with JDK 10, the chronogical range covered by "one
>> plus three back" would be much shortened. In due course, this policy
>> will be updated accordingly, possibly taking into account LTS (long
>> term support) releases and possibly offering a sparse set of values.
>> For example, one possible policy would be to support the last two LTS
>> release and each release after the most recent LTS, but not the
>> releases between those two LTS releases.
> 
> https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8046172?focusedCommentId=14145783&page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel#comment-14145783
> 
> There are no plans to remove support for --release 7 in JDK 15.
> 
> HTH,
> 
> -Joe
> 
> On 1/11/2020 3:35 AM, Gunnar Morling wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> In JEP 182 (currently in draft state, [1]) it says: "In JDK 9 and
>> going forward, javac will use a "one + three back" policy of supported
>> source and target options."
>>
>> Are there any plans to update this one in the light of the increased
>> release cadence? In particular, what's the next planned upgrade of the
>> minimum supported version (javac 14 still supports source/target level
>> 7 at this point)?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> --Gunnar
>>
>> [1] https://openjdk.java.net/jeps/182