On 17.12.2012 18:10, Kay Schenk wrote: > On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Pedro Giffuni <p...@apache.org> wrote: >> Hello Kay; >> >> Yes, I can confirm after solving those two issues,we got OpenOffice building >> with JDK 7 on FreeBSD: >> >> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/ports/editors/openoffice-3-devel/files/ >> >> Pedro. > Hey -- thanks for this notice. Well, IMO, we should fix these > supposedly *trivial* issues and get on with java 7. Java 6 is out of > support for *some* time now. We can't expect users to keep an older > version like 6 around. Just a word of caution: businesses tend to keep even very old installations of Java, if some important Java applications are deployed ("never change a running system"). I know even of 1.4 (!) installations, where 1.5 installations are still not uncommon.
So, unlike private persons, who may be inclined to always have the latest and best installed/updated software, companies tend to be much more conservative. Here is a list of Oracle's supported Java versions, which also indicate that services might be still in place for older versions of Java, even if no public updates are planned anymore (excerpt from <http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html>): Major Release GA Date End of Public Updates Extended Support 1.4 Feb 2002 Oct 2008 Feb 2013 5.0 May 2004 Oct 2009 May 2014 6 Dec 2006 Feb 2013 Dec 2016 7 July 2011 July 2014 July 2019 As newer Java versions are able to run older classfiles there should not be a problem, if the Java baseline for AOO remains lower than the latest Java version. This would allow shops with older Java installations to run the latest AOO. (AFAIK AOO has Java 5 as its baseline?) ---rony
