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Ask HN: Should I jump to OpenJDK 11 now that support for 8 is running out?

13 points by pc2g4d ↗ HN
My understanding is that OpenJDK 8 will no longer receive updates after January 2019. Most of my Java code targets Java 7 and some Java 8. What would be the consequences for me of jumping to the OpenJDK 11? How does it do with lower source levels? Are there any gotchas I should be aware of?

4 comments

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vkaku
It is a good time to jump to Java 11. It may not be too difficult getting the code to run per se, unless you are using CORBA and some really old tech. It would also be a good idea to invest some time into the launcher scripts and modular packaging in your application.

However, it is high time you consider taking up a non Oracle distribution if you are looking for support. Rely on any distribution you can build yourself than going for a vendor downloadable distribution like Corretto. No vendor lock ins, even the benevolent ones.

My current favorite is https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK

I'm keeping a watchful eye on if any of these repos close/lose support. If anything of that sort happens, I'm ready to drop Java and rewrite it.

bigiain
Amazon have committed to providing security updates to their build of OpenJDK version 8 (called Corretto) a until "at least June 2023"

https://aws.amazon.com/corretto/faqs/

So things aren't as dire as "support stops in 3 weeks!!!". But moving to 11 isn't a bad idea anyway, since you're going to have to do so sometime anyway. (interestingly Amazon have (so far) only committed to updates for Corretto 11 until August 2024...)

fiftyacorn
It depends on the application -

are you using app servers? will you need to migrate/upgrade those? Are all your dependencies J11 compliant?

Its a reasonably big jump from JDK8 -> post-9 with modules. But should be doable