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Posted to general@xmlgraphics.apache.org by Vincent Hennebert <vh...@gmail.com> on 2013/10/08 13:51:38 UTC
Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
Hi,
it seems that people are having more and more trouble to compile their
code on a 1.5 JDK. Also, Java 1.5 is getting really old now with the end
of public updates dating as far back as October 2009.
So maybe it’s time to drop support for Java 1.5 and switch to 1.6 as
a minimum requirement for the next versions of XGC, FOP and Batik.
WDYT?
Thanks,
Vincent
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Re: Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
Posted by Glenn Adams <gl...@skynav.com>.
On Wed, Oct 9, 2013 at 5:01 AM, Chris Bowditch
<bo...@hotmail.com>wrote:
> Hi Vincent,
>
> before making such a decision I'd like to weigh up pros and cons of such a
> proposal. The only pro that I can detect is improved support for
> annotations. IIUC, there aren't many language changes between Java 5 and 6,
> so the benefits to a developer will be small.
>
There are a few new, very useful APIs in Java 6, such as:
- String.isEmpty()
- Arrays.copyOf(), copyOfRange()
- Collections.newSetFromMap()
- Deque
More differences are described at:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/features-141434.html
>
> The obvious con is that we restrict our user base. Whilst its true that
> Java 5 is long out of support from Oracle, there are many other platforms
> such as AIX, HP-UX, Solaris etc where installing newer JDKs is really
> difficult because of all the pre-requisite Operating System patches
> required. Also, Oracle aren't the only JDK vendors and we do have clients
> with IBM JDK 5, which is still supported. A lot of bigger Enterprises won't
> be able to upgrade from Java 5 to Java 6 across all platforms and this
> could restrict our user base quite significantly.
>
> Since the benefit to the developers appears small, I'm inclined not to
> support such a motion. I could possibly be convinced that the upgrade would
> be more beneficial to developers than I'm currently aware. So please feel
> free to convince me :-)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Chris
>
>
> On 08/10/2013 12:51, Vincent Hennebert wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> it seems that people are having more and more trouble to compile their
>> code on a 1.5 JDK. Also, Java 1.5 is getting really old now with the end
>> of public updates dating as far back as October 2009.
>>
>> So maybe it’s time to drop support for Java 1.5 and switch to 1.6 as
>> a minimum requirement for the next versions of XGC, FOP and Batik.
>>
>> WDYT?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Vincent
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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>
Re: Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
Posted by Chris Bowditch <bo...@hotmail.com>.
Hi Vincent,
before making such a decision I'd like to weigh up pros and cons of such
a proposal. The only pro that I can detect is improved support for
annotations. IIUC, there aren't many language changes between Java 5 and
6, so the benefits to a developer will be small.
The obvious con is that we restrict our user base. Whilst its true that
Java 5 is long out of support from Oracle, there are many other
platforms such as AIX, HP-UX, Solaris etc where installing newer JDKs is
really difficult because of all the pre-requisite Operating System
patches required. Also, Oracle aren't the only JDK vendors and we do
have clients with IBM JDK 5, which is still supported. A lot of bigger
Enterprises won't be able to upgrade from Java 5 to Java 6 across all
platforms and this could restrict our user base quite significantly.
Since the benefit to the developers appears small, I'm inclined not to
support such a motion. I could possibly be convinced that the upgrade
would be more beneficial to developers than I'm currently aware. So
please feel free to convince me :-)
Thanks,
Chris
On 08/10/2013 12:51, Vincent Hennebert wrote:
> Hi,
>
> it seems that people are having more and more trouble to compile their
> code on a 1.5 JDK. Also, Java 1.5 is getting really old now with the end
> of public updates dating as far back as October 2009.
>
> So maybe it’s time to drop support for Java 1.5 and switch to 1.6 as
> a minimum requirement for the next versions of XGC, FOP and Batik.
>
> WDYT?
>
> Thanks,
> Vincent
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: general-help@xmlgraphics.apache.org
>
>
>
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Re: Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
Posted by Glenn Adams <gl...@skynav.com>.
On Tue, Oct 8, 2013 at 5:51 AM, Vincent Hennebert <vh...@gmail.com>wrote:
> Hi,
>
> it seems that people are having more and more trouble to compile their
> code on a 1.5 JDK. Also, Java 1.5 is getting really old now with the end
> of public updates dating as far back as October 2009.
>
> So maybe it’s time to drop support for Java 1.5 and switch to 1.6 as
> a minimum requirement for the next versions of XGC, FOP and Batik.
>
> WDYT?
>
Thanks for suggesting this. I've been meaning to do so for some time.
+1
>
> Thanks,
> Vincent
>
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: general-help@xmlgraphics.apache.org
>
>
RE: Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
Posted by Robert Meyer <rm...@hotmail.co.uk>.
That sounds like a good idea to me! There have been a few occasions where I had to change my code due to the restrictions imposed by the Java version. Aside from keeping up with other projects, it would bring some nice to have features especially regarding array handling.
Robert
> Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2013 13:51:38 +0200
> From: vhennebert@gmail.com
> To: general@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> Subject: Java 1.6 as Minimum Requirement
>
> Hi,
>
> it seems that people are having more and more trouble to compile their
> code on a 1.5 JDK. Also, Java 1.5 is getting really old now with the end
> of public updates dating as far back as October 2009.
>
> So maybe it’s time to drop support for Java 1.5 and switch to 1.6 as
> a minimum requirement for the next versions of XGC, FOP and Batik.
>
> WDYT?
>
> Thanks,
> Vincent
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscribe@xmlgraphics.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: general-help@xmlgraphics.apache.org
>