2014/10/30 4:17 -0700, [email protected]: > The JAR format has run its course. It's time to move on.
Apparently this statement has been taken out of context, so allow me to clarify. We're not proposing to eliminate JAR files in general, but merely to stop using them inside the JRE and the JDK. This will affect a small class of applications, mainly IDEs and other kinds of development tools that need to enumerate and inspect the classes stored in a run-time image. JEP 220 proposes a new mechanism by which they can do that, and in a way that's immune to future internal format changes. Existing JAR-based libraries and applications will continue to work fine. The JAR format, despite its numerous flaws, is here to stay and will likely be a supported packaging and distribution format until the end of time. We even plan to make it possible to package true modules as JAR files, for ease of migration and distribution. - Mark
