[jdk17u-dev] RFR: 8283911: DEFAULT_PROMOTED_VERSION_PRE not reset to 'ea' for jdk-17.0.4

[Christoph Langer]

On Wed, 30 Mar 2022 03:24:53 GMT, Andrew John Hughes <andrew at openjdk.org> wrote:

> DEFAULT_PROMOTED_VERSION_PRE has not been reset to 'ea' for either the 17.0.3 or 17.0.4 development cycles.
> 
> While the value is not used by `configure`, we have started to rely on this value ourselves to detect if the source is for an early access (EA) or general access (GA) build, so it would be helpful if the value in the sources was accurate.
> 
> This change would need to be reverted just before the `-ga` tag.

Hi @gnu-andrew, 

so far,  DEFAULT_PROMOTED_VERSION_PRE has not been actively used in OpenJDK update releases. It seems it has had a purpose only within Oracle's infrastructure. Hence, I removed it from 11u a while ago with [JDK-8269415](https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8269415).
If we now start using it, it is a slight change in process that all maintainers have to be aware of. E.g. add "ea" when starting an update release with the version bump or keep it when merging back from the rampdown branch and make sure it gets removed with a final "ga" commit.

Adding @GoeLin @jerboaa @theRealAph for comments.

Cheers
Christoph

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PR: https://git.openjdk.java.net/jdk17u-dev/pull/307