I should follow this up. I don’t think the multi-release support would help in cases like what I have proposed for VFS (taking advantage of java.nio.file). In that case the changes would almost surely be too extensive to avoid compatibility issues.
Ralph > On Jun 6, 2016, at 11:44 AM, Ralph Goers <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> On Jun 6, 2016, at 11:38 AM, Gary Gregory <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> On Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Jochen Wiedmann <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> >> wrote: >> >>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >>> From: Ralph Goers <[email protected]> >>> Date: Mon, Jun 6, 2016 at 1:11 AM >>> Subject: Re: [ALL] About binary compatibility >>> To: Commons Developers List <[email protected]> >>> >>> >>> I think we should adopt Java 9’s multi-release jars [1] as standard >>> practice. While this won’t let us update our APIs without breaking >>> compatibility (which may still be necessary), it will allow us to >>> leverage some features in newer versions of Java without worrying >>> about breaking backward compatibility. >>> >>> Strong disagreement. Java 9 is not even out, and I heard noone express >>> any desire to *use* these beasts. In other words: We'd serve a >>> non-existing demand. That can't help anyone, >>> in particular not ourselves. >>> >> >> Yeah, it seems a little early to jump on that bandwagon. >> >> I'd rather keep a mainline of development of new releases on a recent JRE >> like Java 7 or 8 and let people who really want older JREs maintain >> branches. >> > > Gary, your response seems at odds with what I am saying. I’m not talking > about supporting Java 6. What I am suggesting is that this feature in Java 9 > will let you take advantage of features in Java 8 or 9 while still being able > to have the same jar run in Java 7. In other words your can have a project > where the Maven is told the target runtime is Java 7 but can take advantage > of features in Java 8 or 9. You don’t have to delay taking advantage of > features just because you aren’t ready to abandon your Java 7 (or 8 when that > is relevant) users. > > Ralph > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
