Which is the minimal Java version plc4j should support

[sruehl]

Currently the Java version which supports building of all parts of Apache PLC4X is at least Java 11 (Currently with Java 19 the Apache Kafka integration module is excluded from the build as the plugins it requires are incompatible with this version)

[chrisdutz]

Usually I would have said, that we should stay as low as possible, but given the fact that officially nobody seems to be using PLC4X (At least none admits it publicly) I think we should make our lives easier and give up on that constraint. But I do think we should stay at an LTS version.

[sruehl]

even at 17 you gain so many QOL features which make java a bit more un-verbose :)

[chrisdutz]

But please don't add too much of thise super undebuggable streaming stuff ;-)

[sruehl]

git gud :P

[glcj]

Unless it is strictly necessary, I keep the minimum 11LTS.

[splatch]

From longevity point of view we (connectorio) still aim Java 11 as a baseline because many runtimes still rely on it. Its not that you have to use Java 11 at runtime, just need to compile to java 11 bytecode.

[mrwhy-orig]

I've read on several places that minimal version is 8, so I'd think the documentation/website should be updated, or is it still possible to use plain plc4j without any KAFKA etc. with version 8?

[chrisdutz]

Oh .. ok ... so I thought we were still supporting Java 1.8 (as we never officially change anything) ... so we should either officially declare 1.8 dead or make sure the build produces 1.8 compatible libraries.

[mrwhy-orig]

I like the 'make sure the build produces 1.8 compatible libraries' variant ;)

[chrisdutz]

Yeah ... I bet so ... but let's face it ... it adds more work and restrictions to the folks building it. Nobody - and I mean ... really nobody - admits to be using PLC4X or what for. This makes it super challenging for the folks working on it to get any form of consulting gigs. So I think there should be some sort of payment ... and if it's not money, then it should at least be: Officially admitting to be using it ;-)

[mrwhy-orig]

Yeah, I do understand this position. In my case, as I wrote in the corresponding issue someone else opened, I have to deal with an old software (Java 1.8) and I don't want to alter the PLC code directly. So I think PLC4X could be a great help for "Retrofitting" where you somekind of bound to use old hard- and software. But therefore it should use the min required version as possible, to be able to run everywhere with very little constraints. But, yeah, if it makes the life of the devs much harder it has to be considered to omit this line usecase. In my particular UC I found a way to use a newer JDK and I will try to use PLC4x, especally because I have to deal with 2 different PLCs atm (S7-300 and Beckhoff). I like the idea behind PLC4x and would love to use it more often, but I'm just a freelancer and unfortunately not always in a position where I can freely choose which tools I gonna use.