JavaSE 1.6 or 1.5

What is the target compile right now for VASSAL: 1.6 or 1.5?

I used to think that 1.6 was not available for MacOSX, but I’m on a Mac right now and java reports java version “1.6.0_20”.

  • M.

Thus spake mkiefte:

What is the target compile right now for VASSAL: 1.6 or 1.5?

1.5 (unfortunately)

I used to think that 1.6 was not available for MacOSX, but I’m on a Mac
right now and java reports java version “1.6.0_20”.

1.6 is available on some Macs, but not others.


J.

I used to think that 1.6 was not available for MacOSX, but I’m on a Mac
right now and java reports java version “1.6.0_20”.

1.6 is available on some Macs, but not others.

How does that work? Why can some Macs have 1.6 and not others? I’m
assuming that, because of this, we cannot compile for 1.6?

  • M.


I used to think that 1.6 was not available for MacOSX, but I’m on a Mac

right now and java reports java version “1.6.0_20”.


1.6 is available on *some* Macs, but not others.


How does that work?� Why can some Macs have 1.6 and not others?� I'm assuming that, because of this, we cannot compile for 1.6?

- M.

On Aug 6, 2010, at 2:07 AM, Michael Kiefte wrote:

I used to think that 1.6 was not available for MacOSX, but I’m on
a Mac
right now and java reports java version “1.6.0_20”.

1.6 is available on some Macs, but not others.

How does that work? Why can some Macs have 1.6 and not others? I’m
assuming that, because of this, we cannot compile for 1.6?

The issue is tied to operating system version.

Apple releases their own JVM, based on Sun Java but tailored to the
Mac graphics and OS environment. They don’t usually go back and
update the JVM versions for older operating systems.

So that means that players with older Macs would need to upgrade their
operating system to get some of the newer Java versions. And some
hardware limits your upgrade potential, if it gets old enough.

The limitations are:

OS 10.3 (Panther) Java 1.3 and Java 1.4
OS 10.4 (Tiger) Java 1.4 and Java 1.5
OS 10.5 (Leopard) Java 1.5 and Java 1.6
OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Java 1.6 only

As a practical matter, Panther would only be running on very old
hardware and all machines that could effectively run Vassal can be
upgraded to 10.4 – This includes machines going back to the G3
processor from 1999, so that allows us to target Java 1.5 and be safe.

And no, there aren’t really any 3rd party JVMs that can be used on
older Mac operating systems.

Thus spake Michael Kiefte:

1.6 is available on some Macs, but not others.

How does that work? Why can some Macs have 1.6 and not others? I’m
assuming that, because of this, we cannot compile for 1.6?

I believe it’s because the JVM distributed by Apple is tied in to OS X
somehow, such that you can’t simple take the JVM from one version and
install it on another. IIRC, the machines which have no 1.6 are all 32-
bit.

You can compile for 1.6 yourself, but the releases will be compiled
for 1.5 for at least a while yet. (I would really love to move to 1.6
as soon as we can, but I don’t have a good handle on how many users
we have who can’t use 1.6.)


J.