Advancing minimum Java version from 11 to 17

[cholmcc]

@uckelman

Does anyone have any insight into this? Am I correct that nearly all of our users still using Java 11 are on Linux and only using Java 11 because it’s still their system default?

Most Linux distributions, unless someone is using a really old version, are at least on Java 21.

• Debian default-jre package: It is only bullseye (oldoldstable) and bookworm (oldstable), that use old pre-21, 11 and 17 respectively. All others use 21 or newer by default.
• Ubuntu default-jre package: It is only jammy (22.04LTS) that use 11, newer versions of Ubuntu uses 21 or newer.
• Fedora java-latest-openjdk package: All listed show Java 26. Long term support Java on Fedora are 21 and 25.
• Gentoo dev-java/openjdk packages: Most architectures are at least on 21.
• Arch jre-openjdk package: Is Java 26.

@uckelman

How can we smooth the path for those people if we raise the minimum Java version to 17 on the next release?

I users of Debian-derived or RedHat-derived distributions use the provided .deb and .rpm packages, then everything will happen automatically.

For users that download the tar-ball, it should be stipulated in the installation instructions that they need at least Java17. Note, if users have followed the current guidelines on installing a JRE there should mostly be no problem as they are directed to use the distribution packages, and those are all new enough - except in very old releases of the distributions.

Perhaps the -release flag should be set to -release 17 in the builds?

Yours,
Christian