jlink'ed javac misses --release support and numbers

[Jonathan Gibbons]

Hi Christian,

This seems worthy of a bug to track this issue.

-- Jon

On 11/13/20 7:07 AM, Christian Stein wrote:
> Hi,
>
> When creating a custom runtime image via jlink that includes 
> module jdk.compiler and its dependencies, the resulting javac tool of 
> that image doesn't support the --release option.
>
> The error message reads, using 16-ea+24 as the basis and --release 16 
> on the command:
>
>   release version 16 not supported
>     Usage: javac <options> <source files>
>     use --help for a list of possible options
>
> Running javac --help from within the custom image lacks all numbers:
> [...]
>   --release <release>
>         Compile for the specified Java SE release. Supported releases:
>   -s <directory>               Specify where to place generated source 
> files
>   --source <release>, -source <release>
>         Provide source compatibility with the specified Java SE 
> release. Supported releases: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
> [...]
>
> The help texts for options --source and --target do show all numbers.
>
> Am I missing something? Perhaps an internal(?) module that contains 
> the API definitions used by javac?
>
> Cheers,
> Christian