Re: Java 7 or 8?

It is a fact that we remain source-compatible with Java 7. We test on 7, 
8 and 11 in the CI.

Java 7 is past EOL, and no-one should really be using it in production, 
but a few may still be running Jython on it. (No-one has said they are, 
so it's at best a reasonable conjecture.) I have observed test failures 
with SSL on Java 7, that disappear on Java 8, since upgrading the BC 
jars to satisfy security concerns.

I propose we compile releases up to 2.7.2 final with Java 8, and for the 
Java 8 target. (It really doesn't seem right to compile it with an 
unsupported Java 7.) This means the Jython that users download will 
require a minimum of Java 8 to run. We support up to Java 11, with 
reasonable confidence beyond that.

But we remain source-compatible with Java 7 up to 2.7.2 final. Then, if 
a user really needs a version that runs on Java 7, we can show them how 
to build one. I believe it is a matter of defining properties in or 
around the Ant build, down-grading the BC JARs if need be, and making a 
snapshot installer. It will be an "unofficial" build that we do not 
undertake to support, and comes with a number of (additional) known defects.

Good compromise?

Jeff

Jeff Allen

On 26/07/2019 21:54, Jeff Allen wrote:
> When the project set out to create Jython 2.7.2, it was reasonable 
> still to support Java 7. Now we find ourselves on the verge of a 2.7.2 
> beta release, Java 8 seems the logical minimum. We currently build and 
> test on Java 7 but some things would resolve themselves if we could 
> move on. We intend to support "before and after Jigsaw" JVMs (say 8 
> and 11).
>
> Straw poll: does anyone amongst our users have a good reason why 
> Jython 2.7.2 should run on Java 7?
>