As with any Java version there comes a time when one needs to ask
themselves for how long one intends to stick with it.
With Java 17 being released 2 months ago, and the active support for
Java 8 ending in 4 months, it is time for us to think about that with
regard to Java 8.
As such I'd like to start a discussion about deprecating support for
Java 8 in 1.15.
We do not need to arrive with an exact date for the removal in this
discussion; the main goal is to signal to users that they should
(prepare to) migrate to Java 11 _now_.
That said, we should consider dropping the support entirely in the next
2-3 releases.
There are of course some problems that we are already aware of, like the
Hive/Hbase connectors that currently do not support Java 11.
However, we mustn't hold back the entire project because of external
projects that are (way to) slow to adapt.
Maybe us deprecating Java 8 would also add a bit of pressure to get on
with it.
There are numerous advantages that properly migrating to Java 11 would
bring us (simplify build system, easier support for Java 17, all the API
goodies of Java 9-11, new garbage collectors (Epsilon/ZGC/Shenandoah)).
Let me know what you think.
