Mystery meat OpenJDK builds strike again

[Anssi Kolehmainen]

On Tue, May 21, 2019 at 02:51:12AM +0100, Andrew John Hughes wrote:
>On 20/05/2019 17:47, Anssi Kolehmainen wrote:
>> Google openjdk, go to openjdk.java.net, on frontpage click install.
>> Instructions say "sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jre" which then
>> installs 8u212-b01. Success!
>>
>> Go back to frontpage, click on "here" (as in Oracle builds), see only
>> "8u212",
>> don't want to do read through EULA so go back to openjdk frontpage.
>>
>> Go through the tiny left navbar, click on "JDK 8"... This talks about
>> 2014 so bummer.
>
>This content is controlled by Oracle, so sadly we can't change any of
>it. I certainly don't think non-OpenJDK builds should be listed on the
>front page. However, you do omit the link between those two which
>directs to jdk.java.net/12 and OpenJDK builds of the latest OpenJDK release.

Yeah... What I want to do is to get Java on the machine, be it Debian, RHEL, 
Windows or whatever. Currently OpenJDK web looks like everything is just JDK 12 
and others are "too old". Sadly the other products (e.g. Payara) have not 
caught up with the new Java release speed so JDK 8 it must be.

I basically must figure out somewhere else that what I really want is 
AdoptOpenJDK or Azul and not "OpenJDK" itself.

(Oracle JDK is basically out of question after latest license change.)

>> "Consult Wiki for details".
>> Font gets even tinier but I keep glancing. Releases list "Latest: 8u212"
>> but only "GA" as build number. Click on "tag" which goes to hg[1] "Added
>> tag jdk8u212-b02"... Success!
>> [1]: http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk8u/jdk8u/rev/5218ef8ea6c3
>>
>> Click on "Released", get to Github AdoptOpenJDK releases. Title says
>> "8u212 GA" but thankfully tag shows "8u212-b03".
>
>We can revise these, so suggestions welcome. I'm not sure about changing
>the text size on the wiki, but I agree I also find it rather on the
>small side.

On a general level what I usually look is the current version, when it was 
released and what was changed (major points, incompatibilities). Also sometimes 
version history that when some old version was released.

On release notes level GitLab does pretty good job
https://about.gitlab.com/2019/04/22/gitlab-11-10-released/

Something like Payara might be better fit for JDK releases
https://www.payara.fish/software/release-notes/
.. which is pretty much what the release announcement mailing list post looks 
like. But it's "hidden" behind so many clicks.

It would be really nice to be able edit also the openjdk.java.net frontpage so 
there would be more direct links to relevant parts.

For version history something like:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.NET_Framework#Release_history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux#Version_history_and_timeline

So there would be list of all releases and links to their release postings.
For example if I want to check 8u202 release details I go to archive page which 
has basically nothing. Was there a release posting about it?

AdoptOpenJDK GitHub page lists 8u202-b08 as release version. Debian has 
packaged 8u202-b26.

Oracle just makes my head hurt every time :)

>> It would be really much better if version number would include
>> beta/pre/EA in the prereleases or then GA in the final version.
>
>Where do you mean?

In the version number itself...

So instead of
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_212-8u212-b01-1~deb9u1-b01)
it would be
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_212-8u212-pre01-1~deb9u1-pre01)

Then it would hopefully be more clear that "this version is not suitable for 
general use".

-- 
Anssi Kolehmainen
anssi.kolehmainen at iki.fi
040-5085390