>> If it were my choice, Mac OS X 10.8 would be the base OS with Xcode 4.6.1 >> (current) with clang as the officially supported compiler and with an option >> to use gcc. I don't see why that would't last at least the public lifecycle >> of JDK8. What I would be more concerned with is the apparent drift from what >> we know as Mac OS X towards something more iOS-like, that could mean >> libraries and frameworks we depend on no longer being available, but at that >> point it wouldn't be the same OS and we'd have to re-evaluate anyways. Sort >> of like what's happening with Windows 8 right now. > > Sorry for what may be considered muddying the waters, since this is a JDK8 > discussion. > > What about JDK7 update builds? We currently use the same set of macosx > hardware for both 7u & 8. Does JPRT / others do so as well, or do they > maintain separate systems for 7u.
My understanding is the 7u build systems (and requirements) will remain as they are, since the OBS is not as flexible and is sensitive to what version OS it's building on. There could be justification for fixing the OS version requirement, but keeping a 10.7 machine running isn't a problem yet. The Xcode version requirement is distantly secondary. Actually the fix could be as easy as setting environment variables on the system, so maybe there's nothing to it at all. -DrD-
