I would lean toward Java 17 for the client modules. It aligns with the upstream Iceberg and feels like a safe baseline for downstream integrations, without being too aggressive for existing users. This gets us unstuck now, and we can always move to Java 21 once the ecosystem is more ready.
Yufei On Fri, Feb 6, 2026 at 9:17 AM Jean-Baptiste Onofré <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi > > I would say, let's go step by step (especially for our integrator users). > We have to use Java 17 for Iceberg 1.11, so I would propose: > - Java 17 for the "client" modules and polaris-core > - Java 21 for all the rest > > I would prefer to use Java 21 everywhere directly, but I think it's a big > jump for the integrators (going from Java 11 to Java 21). That's why, at > least for the next 2 or 3 releases, we can bump to Java 17 (again to be > aligned with Iceberg), and use Java 21 after. > > Regards > JB > > On Fri, Feb 6, 2026 at 1:54 PM Alexandre Dutra <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > Yesterday during the sync meeting, we discussed the issue with the > > upcoming Iceberg 1.11 release that will require Java 17 or higher. > > > > Polaris is currently built with Java 21 or higher [1], but the > > compatibility level is set to Java 21 [2] for "server" modules, and > > Java 11 for "client" modules (including polaris-core) [3]. > > > > We agreed yesterday that all the client modules would have to be > > upgraded. The question was: should we upgrade to Java 21 directly, or > > just to Java 17 initially? > > > > For completeness, here is the list of client modules that need an > upgrade: > > > > api/iceberg-service > > api/management-model > > api/management-service > > api/polaris-catalog-service > > extensions/federation/hadoop > > extensions/federation/hive > > plugins/spark/v3.5/spark > > polaris-core > > tools/config-docs/annotations > > tools/immutables > > tools/misc-types > > tools/version > > > > For the sake of simplicity I would be in favor of 21 directly, but > > don't have strong opinions. > > > > I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this topic! > > > > Thanks, > > Alex > > > > [1]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/26a394e0ea68c68373a75251c97ab0711e637d20/settings.gradle.kts#L24 > > [2]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/9377aa731a64d6262dc7cc177d8a457d14c46f0a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/polaris-server.gradle.kts#L24 > > [3]: > > > https://github.com/apache/polaris/blob/9377aa731a64d6262dc7cc177d8a457d14c46f0a/build-logic/src/main/kotlin/polaris-client.gradle.kts#L24 > > >
