Vincent Hennebert wrote:
Hi Guys,
I would like to raise this topic again: what about switching to Java 1.5
as a minimum requirement?
Hi Vincent,
I'm happy to allow the use of generics in trunk code if retroweaver is
used to maintain Java 1.4 support. I don't think the time is right to
remove Java 1.4 compatibility altogether. Only a few weeks ago there
were complaints on fop-user that the latest version couldn't be used
because they were stuck on 1.3.
The End of Life transition period for Java 1.4 will end on the 30th of
October 2008 [1]. The next version of FOP (after 0.95) will probably not
have been released by this time, so we could start using 1.5 features in
the Trunk.
[1] http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html
I don’t particularly expect any disagreement from a developer point of
vue (who doesn’t want to use 1.5 features?), so in the end this will
probably depend on the users’ reactions, but I thought I’d ask for
opinions here first.
According to the poll Jeremias made in October 2007 [2], only 14.3% of
the users would think it’s a bad idea to switch to 1.5. A year later the
percentage will probably have further decreased.
14.3% is a big percentage of a user base to cut off. Even if its fallen
to 5% thats still unacceptable in my opinion. I want to see FOP getting
a bigger user base so the developer base increases.
[2] http://wiki.apache.org/xmlgraphics/UserPollOct2007
I guess a new poll will still be necessary. Or we could base it on lazy
consensus: “If you still want Java 1.4 compatibility, speak up now!”.
+1 for a new Poll.
<snip/>
Chris
