Re: RFC: Make new versions of pgjdbc Java8+

On 03/04/17 18:32, Jorge Solórzano wrote:
> I strongly support the drop of old Java versions, and I'm one that
> thinks we should use the latest and greatest version of Java :-) but,
> for much I want to that happen it's hard to simply "drop" 2 Java
> version at once.
>
> [...]
>
> Now let's get some facts:
>
> * The PgJDBC project is *ultra-conservative*, there is still support
> for PostgreSQL /8.2/ which the EOL was on Dec 2011, I think that
> up to 8.4 would make sense and even a more radical approach to
> follow the EOL of the server itself (drop support for Pg9.1 and
> lower) it's for me acceptable, most people that use ancient
> PostgreSQL versions uses ancient driver versions, and it's not
> common to update the driver for those versions anyway.
>
+1 for 8.4+

> * The limited resources/voluntary work, makes hard to have support
> for many branches, so the "dead" of a version means no
> fixes/backports to that version anymore, it's a linear development
> where there is no look back, if Java 6 and/or Java 7 is dropped,
> it means the last version that supported them are "frozen" and any
> potential bug will be there forever.
>

Agreed. Also in this line: Java8 may encourage more developers to
join. Few developers I know would volunteer to contribute code without
being able to use Java8. YMMV.

> * TheEnd of Public Updates
> <https://blogs.oracle.com/java/end-of-public-updates-for-java-se-6>
> of *Oracle JDK* 6 was on Feb 2013, _but_ there is an "premier" and
> "extended" support
> <http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html> (paid of
> course) where the "extended" ends on Dec 2018.
> * If you ask me, we should stick to the "premier" support dates for
> the PgJDBC, so basically Java 6 should have died in Dec 2015.
> * Following the "premier" support, Java 7 should be dropped until
> Jul 2019.
>

So.... we are going to be favoring customers paying extra premium
fees to Oracle.... don't count with me! ^_^

I don't agree. For me EOL is EOL, not premier.

> * The Oracle JDK it's not the only JDK so the End of Public Updates
> from Oracle should not dictate the kill of a Java version, there
> is OpenJDK.
> * The OpenJDK/IcedTea team, drop support for Java 6
> <http://blog.fuseyism.com/index.php/2017/01/11/discontinuation-of-support-for-icedtea-1-x/>
> just recently.
>

Fair enough. But as a simple example, neither openjdk6 nor openjdk7
are available in my Ubuntu distro (16.04, not even bleeding edge).

> * The Azul Zulu <http://zulu.org/> team still supports Java 6 (at
> least I haven't hear the drop of support).
>
> So +1 for drop support for Java 6, and -1 for drop support for Java 7.
>

Still unconvinced of a strong reason to keep support for Java 7. My
+1 for Java8+.

> And BTW, a drop of a Java version should increase the major version of
> the driver, so when that happens it should be called 43.0.0

Absolutely necessary :)

Cheers,

Álvaro

--

Álvaro Hernández Tortosa

-----------
<8K>data