Timeframe for JEP-411 completely removing SecurityManager APIs

[Scott Stark]

 By "migration feature" I'm talking about being able to retain the type of
library code where one has a conditional call to an
AccessController::doPrivileged(...) method that is only done when
System.getSecurityManager() is not null. Not having to remove this code in
all dependent libraries for a given Jakarta EE application server product
in order to run on Java SE 21 is seen as necessary to navigate supporting
application servers over a range of Java SE versions. The general consensus
was that having to deal with Java SE 11, 17 and 21 would only be possible
if this SecurityManager related code could remain as is, even if the only
executed path would be for System.getSecurityManager() == null. We can deal
with a gradual degradation of the SecurityManager behavior, but it was
unclear if Java SE 21 was looking for a complete removal of the APIs the
libraries use.

I'm sure many of the Jakarta EE platform dev members have code repositories
to offer for scanning to aide in determining when the SecurityManager
dependencies have been removed. If there is a avenue for that information,
please let me know.

Thanks,
Scott

On Apr 26, 2022 at 11:09:22 AM, Sean Mullan <sean.mullan at oracle.com> wrote:

> Hello Scott,
>
> On 4/25/22 2:25 PM, Scott Stark wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
> I'm Scott Stark of Red Hat, and a member of the Jakarta EE platform dev
>
> group (EEPD). I'm currently coordinating the Jakarta EE 10 release that
>
> is targeting June of this year (2022). The removal of the
>
> SecurityManager as described in JEP-411 has been a topic for the EEPD on
>
> may calls this year. Recent discussions make it clear that any
>
> SecurityManager alternative would need to be taken up by the EEPD, and
>
> such an effort is going to be a non-trivial undertaking, and may not be
>
> addressed at all.
>
>
> A general concern among vendors in the EEPD is the timeframe for the
>
> code that bridges between the JVM running with and without a
>
> SecurityManager instance needing to be updated. Such code is the subject
>
> of this JEP-411 paragraph:
>
>
> "In feature releases after Java 18, we will degrade other Security
>
> Manager APIs so that they remain in place but with limited or no
>
> functionality. For example, we may revise AccessController::doPrivileged
>
> simply to run the given action, or revise System::getSecurityManager
>
> always to return null. This will allow libraries that support the
>
> Security Manager and were compiled against previous Java releases to
>
> continue to work without change or even recompilation. We expect to
>
> remove the APIs once the compatibility risk of doing so declines to an
>
> acceptable level."
>
>
> Of particular interest is the timeframe for "remove the APIs once the
>
> compatibility risk of doing so declines to an acceptable level".
>
>
> Vendors in EEPD would like to see Java SE 21 ship with a migration
>
> feature along the lines of the proposed "AccessController::doPrivileged
>
> simply to run the given action, or revise System::getSecurityManager
>
> always to return null" behaviors.
>
>
> Can you clarify what you mean by "a migration feature" and also provide
> some background as to why vendors in EEPD would like to see this? Do you
> mean something like a system property that enables the degraded behavior
> as described above?
>
> Is there some metric for tracking "when the compatibility risk of doing
>
> so declines to an acceptable level."? I believe the EEPD vendors would
>
> like readiness of their projects and upstream dependencies to somehow be
>
> included in any such tracking.
>
>
> So, first we do not yet have a proposed target date for when we would
> like to remove support for the Security Manager (SM) from the JDK. By
> removing support, I mean that the JDK would no longer include a SM
> implementation. However, I don't anticipate that any SM specific APIs
> would be degraded *prior* to removing SM support from the JDK.
>
> Some APIs will likely be degraded as described above at the same time we
> remove support for the SM from the JDK.
>
> As for when the APIs will actually be removed, this will most likely be
> a longer period, possibly several JDK releases. We recognize that many
> libraries and applications will need time to adapt to the changes and
> remove dependencies on the APIs. We have tools that check open source
> repositories for API dependencies and are able to provide us with data
> that helps assess the compatibility risk. However, I can't give you a
> timeframe for API removal yet.
>
> HTH,
> Sean
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://mail.openjdk.org/pipermail/security-dev/attachments/20220426/fd73efc0/attachment.htm>