[External] : Re: Proposal: Improve java.lang.ref processing in Java SE 8 and JDK 8

[Iris Clark]

Hi, Volker.

> Also, more generally, what is the "critical issue" that justifies a
> new Java 8 MR? I expect there are a lot of fixes in later Java
> specifications and it would be interesting to know when it is
> appropriate and justified to downport them and create a new Java 8 MR?

As the Maintenance Lead of Java SE 8 (JSR-337), Oracle works hard to
balance the benefits and the costs of a Maintenance Release (MR).

One reason for an MR is to make the Java Platform conform more fully and
usefully with critical external standards, such as Unicode and security
protocols. This was seen in the 2019 and 2020 Maintenance Releases.

Another reason for an MR is to address issues in the Specification that
have a high probability of leading to unsound or incorrect behaviour by
Implementations. Typically, these issues lie in the Specification of the
JVM or in the Specification of low-level APIs that interact with the JVM
(e.g., reference processing). The MR hardens these Specifications so
that programs cannot be hurt by edge cases where behavior of the Java
Platform is undefined.

This is the situation with the critical issue, 8202260, in the proposed
MR. The issue points to undefined behavior in a core low-level API. The
lack of specification results in, at worst, a reproducible VM crash. The
issue provides a Specification that is easy to understand, implement,
and verify. Oracle believes the benefit of addressing the issue is worth
the cost to the 8u community of having an MR.

Iris