If we dropped JDK 8, we could use the JDK to compile module-info.java files. Then we could remove the custom maven plugin we’re using for compiling module-info.java files for JPMS support and get better IDE integration (as what we’re doing currently somewhat shoe-horns module information alongside JDK8 bytecode).
From: Dane Pitkin <d...@voltrondata.com.INVALID> Date: Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 1:02 PM To: dev@arrow.apache.org <dev@arrow.apache.org> Subject: [DISCUSS] Drop Java 8 support Hi all, I would like to revisit the discussion of dropping Java 8 (and maybe 11) from Arrow's Java implementation. See GH issue[1] below. This was also discussed in the last Arrow community sync meeting on 2024-04-24. For context, this was discussed[2] last year on this mailing list. We decided to revisit the discussion around the June 2024 release (Arrow v17). The timing coincides with the initial release of Apache Spark 4.0.0, which drops both Java 8 and 11 support. For background, we chose not to drop Java 8 support last year because Arrow is seen as a low level library that should support as many environments as possible. Nowadays, we see more enthusiasm for dropping Java 8 (and 11) as exemplified by Apache Spark as well as Apache Iceberg[3]. Is it time to consider dropping Java 8? Should we drop Java 11 and skip straight to Java 17 as our minimum version? What implications do we need to be aware of? Thanks, Dane [1]https://github.com/apache/arrow/issues/38051 [2]https://lists.apache.org/thread/s07jx58yw4mkl54t3bkggnyg0sftcrr8 [3]https://lists.apache.org/thread/ntrk2thvsg9tdccwd4flsdz9gg743368