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We are using Java 8 (because it is requirement of one library) in
almost all our projects, so I am fine with both 7 and 8.<br>
<br>
But even though I agree with the plan of upgrading, I would like
also to note the importance of checking java/openjdk packages
available in the repositories of popular distros... For example
Debian 8 (current stable) or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS still do not have Java
8 in standard repositories and it's a hard question what is better
version to force - Java 7 with no updates from Oracle (but I think
that RedHat still take care of OpenJDK 7) or Java 8 with lack of
support from some disto maintainers?<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Jan.<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 01/12/2016 01:16 PM, Spencer Bliven
wrote:<br>
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<div>There has been some informal discussion of
increasing the Java version requirement for
BioJava from the current Java 6 to either 7 or
8. It would be great to hear from the larger
BioJava community about whether this would be a
welcome change or not.<br>
<br>
</div>
I will start the discussion by listing what I see
as the pros and cons of setting each version as
the minimum requirement for BioJava.<br>
<br>
</div>
Java 6:<br>
---------<br>
</div>
+ Greatest backwards compatibility<br>
</div>
- No updates since <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html">Feb
2013</a>*<br>
</div>
<div>- Some dependencies are not compatible, requiring the
use of older versions (currently only log4j, but could
be others in the future)<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Java 7:<br>
---------<br>
</div>
<div>+ <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://plumbr.eu/blog/java/java-version-statistics-2015-edition">Most
popular</a> version currently<br>
</div>
<div>+ Some minor language features added<br>
</div>
<div>- No updates since <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html">Apr
2015</a>*<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Java 8:<br>
</div>
<div>---------<br>
</div>
<div>+ Tons of awesome new programming features, e.g.
lambda functions<br>
</div>
<div>+ Only version supported by Oracle<br>
</div>
<div>- Not available for many systems<br>
<br>
</div>
* Note that all versions are backwards compatible, so you
can always use a more up-to-date JDK for downstream
projects. Running outdated software is generally a bad
idea, so users are encouraged to use the Java 8 JRE,
regardless of the minimum BioJava requirement.<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
One thing I would like to get a sense of is how many BioJava
users are still using 6 and 7. @<strong>emckee2006</strong>
mentioned on <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://github.com/biojava/biojava/issues/364#issuecomment-170710242">github</a>
that they still have some servers on 6. I know that getting
Java 8 installed on CentOS is rather painful, so probably
some users haven't yet updated to 8.<br>
<br>
</div>
<div>Let me know if I missed anything!<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
Cheers,<br>
<br>
</div>
Spencer<br>
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