Accelerating the JDK release cadence

[dalibor topic]

On 12.09.2017 19:54, Ben Evans wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 12, 2017 at 1:33 PM, dalibor topic <dalibor.topic at oracle.com> wrote:
>> The process in place for JDK 9 at this time is specified at
>> http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/jdk9-dev/2017-June/005884.html
>>
>> Quoting form the above mail:
>>
>> "The overall feature set has been frozen for some time now.  No further
>> enhancements, no matter how small and low-risk, will be approved after
>> the Initial Release Candidate build."
> 
> This isn't an "enhancement". 

Making G1 the Default Garbage Collector is JDK Enhancement Proposal 
(short: JEP) 248.

Quoting from JEP 248:

"G1 is seen as a robust and well-tested collector. It is not expected to 
have stability problems, but becoming the default collector will 
increase its visibility and may reveal previously-unknown issues. If a 
critical issue is found that can't be addressed in the JDK 9 time frame, 
we will revert back to use Parallel GC as the default for the JDK 9 GA."

As you can see from 
https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/issues/?jql=project%20%3D%20JDK%20AND%20priority%20%3D%20P1%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20AND%20affectedVersion%20%3D%20%229%22%20AND%20labels%20%3D%20gc-g1%20ORDER%20BY%20priority%20DESC%2C%20updated%20DESC 
there are no open, P1 issues with G1 GC affecting JDK 9.

Accordingly, implementing another JDK enhancement proposal to switch JDK 
9 to a different default GC would not make a lot of sense for JDK 9 
itself, aside from the JDK 9 feature set being frozen anyway at this 
stage of its development.

As the JEP's authors explain, making G1 default in JDK 9 will increase 
its visibility. In turn, that may be the best way to get broad feedback
on any remaining, previously unknown issues, potentially allowing such 
issues to be discovered, raised and addressed in time for the next major 
JDK or LTS release.

cheers,
dalibor topic
-- 
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