Kafka version and JDK version

[Stephane Maarek <st...@simplemachines.com.au>]

Hi

If I remember correctly, Kafka 2.0 is targeted this summer as it'll drop
support for java 7 and dropping a java version is supposed to imply a major
version bump in Kafka.

Now that Java has a very quick release cycle for JDK (version 10 today), my
question is: how fast will Kafka versioning go ?

My point of view is that we shouldn't increment the Kafka version as fast
as Java, but that's currently the way it seems it'll go

My perspective is that from someone who teaches Kafka, students expect
major version bumps to have major effects on how they program. But it's a
tough sell to explain that Kafka 2.0 has nothing major in the functioning
or programming style except the underlying Java version.

I just want to hear thoughts and opinions and start a discussion.

Thanks !
Stéphane

Re: Kafka version and JDK version

[Stephane Maarek <st...@simplemachines.com.au>]

Sounds good ! Thanks for the detailed explanation :)

On Wed., 21 Mar. 2018, 11:40 am Ismael Juma, <is...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Stephane,
>
> I don't see why we would increment Kafka versions as quick as Java
> versions. The way I think it should work is that we support LTS versions
> for a long time and only support the most recent non LTS version. The
> latter is to ensure that we catch any issues with newer Java releases
> quickly, but people are encouraged to use Java LTS versions in production.
> Given that, I don't think major version bumps in Kafka will happen often.
> The bump to 2.0 also gives us an opportunity to drop the old Scala clients.
> This will be a huge win in tech debt reduction so the project will be able
> to move faster after that.
>
> Ismael
>
> On Tue, 20 Mar 2018, 20:24 Stephane Maarek, <
> stephane@simplemachines.com.au>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi
> >
> > If I remember correctly, Kafka 2.0 is targeted this summer as it'll drop
> > support for java 7 and dropping a java version is supposed to imply a
> major
> > version bump in Kafka.
> >
> > Now that Java has a very quick release cycle for JDK (version 10 today),
> my
> > question is: how fast will Kafka versioning go ?
> >
> > My point of view is that we shouldn't increment the Kafka version as fast
> > as Java, but that's currently the way it seems it'll go
> >
> > My perspective is that from someone who teaches Kafka, students expect
> > major version bumps to have major effects on how they program. But it's a
> > tough sell to explain that Kafka 2.0 has nothing major in the functioning
> > or programming style except the underlying Java version.
> >
> > I just want to hear thoughts and opinions and start a discussion.
> >
> > Thanks !
> > Stéphane
> >
>

Re: Kafka version and JDK version

[Ismael Juma <is...@gmail.com>]

Hi Stephane,

I don't see why we would increment Kafka versions as quick as Java
versions. The way I think it should work is that we support LTS versions
for a long time and only support the most recent non LTS version. The
latter is to ensure that we catch any issues with newer Java releases
quickly, but people are encouraged to use Java LTS versions in production.
Given that, I don't think major version bumps in Kafka will happen often.
The bump to 2.0 also gives us an opportunity to drop the old Scala clients.
This will be a huge win in tech debt reduction so the project will be able
to move faster after that.

Ismael

On Tue, 20 Mar 2018, 20:24 Stephane Maarek, <st...@simplemachines.com.au>
wrote:

> Hi
>
> If I remember correctly, Kafka 2.0 is targeted this summer as it'll drop
> support for java 7 and dropping a java version is supposed to imply a major
> version bump in Kafka.
>
> Now that Java has a very quick release cycle for JDK (version 10 today), my
> question is: how fast will Kafka versioning go ?
>
> My point of view is that we shouldn't increment the Kafka version as fast
> as Java, but that's currently the way it seems it'll go
>
> My perspective is that from someone who teaches Kafka, students expect
> major version bumps to have major effects on how they program. But it's a
> tough sell to explain that Kafka 2.0 has nothing major in the functioning
> or programming style except the underlying Java version.
>
> I just want to hear thoughts and opinions and start a discussion.
>
> Thanks !
> Stéphane
>