Intermediate update: right now it's 219 votes on Twitter (and 0 on this thread: seems that people find Twitter a more convenient medium!), with 96% who are either on Java 8 or can easily switch, vs. 4% who can not easily switch.
Using a proportion confidence interval calculator, so far we're looking at between 1.9 and 7.7% of users (at 95% confidence) needing Java 7 support :) Willing users can help gather more votes by RT'ing the poll or chiming in on this thread! So: for now we don't yet have enough confidence that Java 7 support can be dropped from the SDK (to remind, we'll conclude the vote on January 7th; since people so overwhelmingly vote on Twitter, we may consider doing 3 more rounds of the same poll?..), however: - It may be enough confidence to resolve to *build* the Beam SDK using JDK8 (at Java 7 source language level), which is something +Ismaël Mejía <[email protected]> and +Daniel Oliveira <[email protected]> once requested as part of building Java 9 support. I suspect that the sets "users who need to build their own Beam SDK" and "users who can not upgrade to Java 8" have a vanishingly small intersection. - Then, we may consider also start building *tests* at Java 8 language level, which will give the bulk of the benefit of encouraging Java8-friendly APIs. Thoughts on the above? On Thu, Dec 7, 2017 at 6:22 PM Eugene Kirpichov <[email protected]> wrote: > A Twitter poll has been sent out too > https://twitter.com/ApacheBeam/status/938926195910905857 > However, due to limitations of Twitter it can only be open for 7 days. I > encourage people who are late to the poll to comment on this thread instead. > > On Thu, Dec 7, 2017 at 3:50 PM Eugene Kirpichov <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Followup: we would like to keep this poll open for 2 weeks, however some >> people have expressed concern that this is too short. >> Let us keep this poll open for 1 month starting today. So far the >> agreed-upon decision has been to move forward with the plan if fewer than >> 5% of all respondents choose option 3. >> >> On Thu, Dec 7, 2017 at 3:48 PM Eugene Kirpichov <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> This is a follow-up on a previous similar thread >>> https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/2e1890c62d9f022f09b20e9f12f130fe9f1042e391979087f725d2e0@%3Cuser.beam.apache.org%3E >>> in >>> which the community consistently expressed support for transitioning Beam >>> Java to Java8-only. >>> >>> Now that the release of Beam 2.2.0 has completed, we are considering >>> performing this change specifically in the immediate next release: Beam >>> 2.3.0, i.e. dropping support for Java 7 without a bump in the major version >>> of Beam. >>> >>> The reasons for switching to Java 8 in general are considered in the >>> thread above. >>> The reasons in favor of making the switch in Beam 2.3.0 are as follows: >>> - It is believed that usage of Java 7 in production is already >>> vanishingly small. >>> - Since Java 7 has not been receiving even security updates for years, >>> helping perpetuate its usage would be a bad idea >>> - A major version bump is a major step and would likely happen only >>> after a large number of other major changes in Beam accumulate - i.e. many >>> months. Maintaining Java 7 compatibility for that long would have costs, >>> including the awkward possibility of switching Beam to Java 8 after Java >>> 8's end of life (September 2018 AFAIK) >>> - Updating to Java 8 would lead to Beam more quickly gaining more >>> Java8-friendly APIs, because Beam SDK authors and contributors would have >>> more liberty, more responsibility and more experience with working in the >>> context of Java8. Delaying until Beam 3.0 would delay this as well. >>> >>> With that in mind, we'd like to poll the Beam community to gather >>> information about usage of Java 7 and Java 8 in production. Please vote: >>> >>> Option 1. I am already using only Java 8+ for building my production >>> Beam code. >>> >>> Option 2. I am using Java 7 for building my production Beam code, but I >>> would have no trouble with the switch to Java 8 [e.g. my transition to Java >>> 8 would be easy and/or I don't expect that I'll have strong reasons to >>> upgrade to Beam 2.3 anyway]. >>> >>> Option 3. I am using Java 7 for building my production Beam code, and >>> dropping Java 7 would be a blocker or hindrance to adopting the new release >>> for me [e.g. I expect that I'll have strong reasons to update to Beam 2.3, >>> but I expect that it will be difficult because of lack of Java 7 support] >>> >>>
