Supported JREs

[filip26]

Please help us understand what JREs do matter to you. What are your preferences? Could JRE 11 support be dropped in favor of JRE 17? Should we skip JRE 17 and jump on JRE 21? Share your thoughts.

[acoburn]

For code that runs on a server, I care mostly about JRE 17+. I will note that the proposed Jena 5 release (which uses Titanium) will require a Java 17+ runtime.

For Android development, it's a very different matter (and I'm not an expert here). For Android 12+ use, the minimum Java API aligns with version 11 of the JRE. The JRE-8 specific build of Titanium makes it possible to support development in Android 11 and earlier.

As of Jan 2024, Android 11 is the oldest version that still receives security updates and, according to some, has ~17% of the market share globally. Once Android 11 no longer receives security updates, it would seem that the rationale for a special JRE 8 build has less value, but until that time, I think supporting JRE 8 is important.

[filip26]

Yes, supporting legacy, even unsupported Android versions, prior to Android 12, is unfortunately still important as the old versions have a great market share, not mentioning single purpose devices built on top of Android, e.g. some cashiers, etc.

Android API Levels and usage

On the other hand, it would be great to take full advantage of all the features that new Java brings, the code would only benefit.

GAE standard environment supports Java 21 now, not sure about other 'cloud' providers.

Perhaps, one option is, support Java 11 only for 1.x.x line by security and bug fixes and have 2.x.x mainly on Java 21 with legacy Java 8 support.

Let's wait and see what others say.

[filip26]

Android 14 supports Java 17
https://developer.android.com/build/jdks

[filip26]

Given to the lack of interest. The most viable option now is 11 + 21. That means 1.4.0 will be the last release supporting JRE8 and the last feature release in v1.x.x line.