Opened 5 years ago
Last modified 4 years ago
#20920 closed enhancement
JEP 247: Compile for Older Platform Versions (javac --release 8) — at Initial Version
| Reported by: | simon04 | Owned by: | simon04 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority: | normal | Milestone: | 21.05 |
| Component: | Core | Version: | |
| Keywords: | javac | Cc: |
Description
Currently, we compile JOSM using javac -source 1.8 -target 1.8 causing the following warning when using a newer JDK:
warning: [options] bootstrap class path not set in conjunction with -source 8
Starting with Java 9, javac --release 8 may be used: "Compiles against the public, supported and documented API for a specific VM version" thanks to JEP 247: Compile for Older Platform Versions
JEP 247 – Motivation
javac provides two command line options, -source and -target, which can be used to select the version of the Java language accepted by the compiler and the version of the class files it produces, respectively. By default, however, javac compiles against the most-recent version of the platform APIs. The compiled program can therefore accidentally use APIs only available in the current version of the platform. Such programs cannot run on older versions of the platform, regardless of the values passed to the -source and -target options. This is a long-term usability pain point, since users expect that by using these options they'll get class files that can run on the the platform version specified by -target.
