Ad Java versions to support ... (Re: AOO trunk build fails with HSQLDB

["Rony G. Flatscher (Apache)" <ro...@apache.org>]

On 17.12.2012 18:10, Kay Schenk wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 2:50 PM, Pedro Giffuni <pf...@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