Features/Java7

Java 7

Summary

Make Java 7 (OpenJDK7) the default Java runtime and Java build tool set and remove Java 6 (OpenJDK6).

Owner

• Name: Deepak Bhole

• email: dbhole at redhat dot com

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 17
• Last Updated: 2012-01-06
• Percentage of completion: 80%

Detailed Description

OpenJDK7 has been available as a tech preview in Fedora 16 since GA.

In Fedora 16, the default JDK has been kept as OpenJDK6 due to the relative untested state of OpenJDK7 at the time. OpenJDK7 has received a fair bit of testing since in Fedora and in other distros. For Fedora 17, it should therefor be made the default.

Benefit to Fedora

Fedora users will have access to all the new language and feature enhancements provided by Java 7.

Scope

OpenJDK7 builds already exist in rawhide, the only work that remains is to check packages that fail to build with OpenJDK7 due to API/similar changes are fix them. This is being tracked here.

How To Test

• Install java-1.7.0-openjdk
• Run (as root) 'alternatives --config java' and select the 1.7 version
• Run 'java -version' to ensure that it is correct

User Experience

By default, users will have access to all of the new features that version 7 of the language provides.

Dependencies

No new dependencies are needed for java-1.7.0-openjdk.

Contingency Plan

Everything built with Java 6 is usable with Java 7, so no contingency should be needed. For sanity, all Java packages should be built with OpenJDK7 (locally or in Koji) to ensure that there are no API discrepencies. Such discrepencies will be few and far given how compatible 7 is with 6.

Documentation

New features in OpenJDK7 are listed on [1].

Comments and Discussion

• See Talk:Features/Java7