The meaning, or not, of “LTS”

[mark.reinhold at oracle.com]

2021/5/14 6:17:54 -0700, Andrew Haley <aph at redhat.com>:
> On 5/13/21 11:37 PM, mark.reinhold at oracle.com wrote:
>> I’ve heard a few contributors report that they’ve received advice along
>> the lines of, “since JDK 17 is an LTS we should focus on stability, and
>> avoid doing major enhancements.”
>> 
>> This suggests that the stability of non-LTS releases is not important,
>> but nothing is further from the truth.  We should focus on stability
>> in every JDK release, since every JDK release is meant to be ready for
>> production use.  That a release is designated an LTS release is no
>> reason to hold back on innovation.
> 
> I agree, but this coin has a flipside that should also be mentioned:
> 
> That JDK 17 may be treated as an LTS is not a reason to rush anything
> in order to "get it done in time for the release."

Absolutely!  Hence my exhortation to “please proceed with the usual high
level of care and consideration.”

- Mark