I'm OK to upgrade Core and Client to Java 17. Gary
On Mon, Mar 23, 2026 at 11:21 AM Oleg Kalnichevski <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sun, 2026-03-22 at 12:15 -0700, Ryan Schmitt wrote: > > Insofar as that perception exists, I don't think it can be blamed on > > the > > Java 8 compatibility baseline. Netty still used a compatibility > > baseline of > > Java 6 (!) until Netty 4.2 came out last year and raised it to 8. The > > correct way of viewing the bytecode upgrade is as a means to an end, > > not an > > end to itself: what does it gain us? What goals would it allow us to > > pursue? I'm not asking rhetorically; I can't think of a compelling > > answer, > > but maybe someone else can. > > > > > > * We have accumulated an ungodly amount of outdated APIs in core > ironically largely due to sticking to Java 7 compatibility for too long > instead of upgrading to Java 8 at the beginning of 5.x cycle. In > retrospect it was a mistake and it hurts us now. > > * We will no longer be able to use the latest Assert4j, Junit, Mockito > versions as they upgrade to Java 17 and we stick to Java 8. It will be > hurting us, too. > > * But the BIGGEST PROBLEM is not about byte code compatibility or any > code at all. The biggest issue is that we are no longer attracting > contributors to project because it is being seen as too dated, too > legacy focused, useful but completely uninteresting and irrelevant. > > We have not attracted a single casual contributor for God knows how > many years, let alone someone worthy being a committer or a PMC. We are > failing as a project, at least by the ASF standards. > > Anyways, I am willing to wait a few more years if the plan is to > upgrade straight to Java 24 or 24+ or 24++. If all we do is wait > several more years to upgrade to Java 17, we are basically working > ourselves into a hole. > > Oleg > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
