Coming soon: JDK 9 Platform/Compiler upgrades at Oracle

[Tim Bell]

All-

For JDK 9 we will upgrade the build platforms and compilers used at
Oracle to build the JDK.

In this cycle, our target combinations are:

- Linux - Oracle Linux 6.4 64-bit / GCC 4.8.2
- Mac OS X - 10.9.2 (Mavericks) 64-bit / XCode 5.1.1 / clang
- Solaris X86 - 11.1 / Oracle Solaris Studio 12.3
- Solaris SPARC - 11.1 / Oracle Solaris Studio 12.3
- Windows - Windows Server 2012 R2 64-bit / Microsoft Visual Studio 2013

For Linux and Windows, the 64-bit platform will also build 32-bit
binaries.

The Mac OS X and Solaris builds are already 64-bit only.

Status of the project:

At this point, both the Solaris and Linux platforms build using the
new platforms and tools.  They also passed an initial round of
testing.  Performance testing is still in progress.

For Windows and Mac OS X, we are working on a few stopper bugs.

We will need to integrate a set of fixes as part of doing the compiler
upgrades in order for us to be able to build the JDK using the new
compilers.

Upgrades are currently planned for Linux and Solaris platforms next
week (June 9).  A JDK 9 build will be promoted containing only these
changes.

Mac OS X and Windows will follow when the stopper bugs are fixed and
we are ready.  At this point, we are estimating the end of June.  We
will send an email to this list with confirmation of the dates for
these two platforms once the blockers have been resolved.

We will send an update to the list when we start the upgrade.

It is important to keep as few things as possible moving during the
special promotion cycle.  We will work with the integrators to ensure
no changes apart from those needed for the compiler upgrades are
integrated into the master.

We will notify you when the upgrade has been completed and will also
let you know where to find the build that was done after the compiler
upgrades.

Feedback is welcome.  Please send to jdk9-dev at openjdk.java.net

Tim