Flink will be dropping Java 7 support in 1.5.0 (Java 8 is required for
Scala 2.12+): https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FLINK-5005. This is
another bump in favor of setting Java 8 as the project default. We'll
eventually need to switch the Flink runner if we want it to stay up to date.

On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 2:40 PM, Eugene Kirpichov <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding: I didn't mean to suggest to actually
> use confidence intervals, I added that information just as a curiosity. I
> agree that we should make the decision based on the explicit % of votes.
>
> On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 4:17 PM Kenneth Knowles <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> -user list for this
>>
>> FWIW confidence intervals were not mentioned before the poll was
>> launched, but in fact it was pretty explicitly just votes <= 5%.
>>
>> If we require that the 95% confidence interval falls under 5% we either
>> need 2000 respondents (not going to happen) at current proportions or for a
>> more reasonable 300 respondents the actual proportion would be ~2.3% which
>> is 7 votes, while we already have 9 votes. In other words, the poll is
>> already effectively done if that is the standard.
>>
>> But I would favor tilting the bias the other way. I'm not just trying to
>> make the data fit the desired conclusion. If the original proposal had
>> talked about confidence intervals, or the implied result that we keep Java
>> 7 support for 3% of responses (out of expected ~500 or less) I would have
>> said the balance was off.
>>
>> Kenn
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 11, 2017 at 9:00 AM, Eugene Kirpichov <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> 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/2e1890c62d9f022f09b20e9f12f130
>>>>>> fe9f1042e391979087f725d2e0@%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]
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>


-- 
-Ben

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