Hotspot versions for IcedTea6

[Florian Weimer]

* Andrew John Hughes:

> It's IcedTea6 1.8.3 which is very outdated and has known security issues.

I've checked the release notes and the changes shouldn't apply to my
present troubles.

> The default HotSpot for the 1.8.x series is hs14.  hs16 is available as an
> option but is not the default.

Does this mean we should use hs14 instead of hs16 if we stick with
1.8.x?

What do other vendors do?  Do they regularly update their
IcedTea-based packages to newer major versions, even for their stable
(maintance, non-feature, long-term support) branches?

This type of upgrades are always of an increased risk, and the fallout
I'm presently dealing with stems from such an upgrade.  The previous
version is really, really old, so applying isolated security fixes
wasn't an option.

> I would suggest updating to a newer version or, at least a version
> of the 1.8.x series with security updates.

I will push a security update (wearing my Debian hat) once I've
addressed the non-security issues in some way because I suspect that
it affects other installations, too.

At this point, I guess I should give a hs14-based version a try and
see if it works better for me.  If it's the default, it's seen more
testing.

-- 
Florian Weimer                <fweimer at bfk.de>
BFK edv-consulting GmbH       http://www.bfk.de/
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