Backporting features [was Re: RFR (11u, XXL): Upstream/backport Shenandoah to JDK11u]

[Claes Redestad]

On 2020-02-17 18:46, Andrew Haley wrote:
> One other thing: we must remember that people have a choice. They are
> not prisoners to Java. If we withhold backports in order to persuade
> them to jump to later JDK releases we're forcing them to do work, and
> some of them might just port to some other platform altogether.

Without diminishing the importance of keeping 8u and 11u alive,
up-to-date and relevant, this seems to me a bit like catering to people
who are just looking for excuses to move on to something else. My gut
feeling tell me they are likely going to be moving on in the end,
regardless.

I think our best bet at both retaining existing users and growing the
ecosystem is by putting our collective resources on delivering new
features of high quality into the mainline. Backports are a necessary
evil, though, and JFR is an obvious "gap". I'm just not convinced it's
obviously the right thing to do, especially considering what we could
have done instead with that time and effort.

/Claes