Java SE 7 End of Extended Support in July 2022

[akostadinov]

Hello, are there plans to support newer Java versions?

Java 7 seems to be EOL [1]. Also 1.8 is reported not supported by OpenBoxes in #2334.

I'm considering OpenBoxes for a new project and I'm worried whether it will support modern infrastructure. Also I see #1694 which is about MySQL 8.0

I'll appreciate to know any roadmap/plans for these.

Thank you!

[1] https://blogs.oracle.com/java/post/java-se-7-end-of-extended-support-in-july-2022

[jmiranda]

Sigh. Thanks for the question.

First of all i don't love the fact that we're stuck on Java 7 and have been trying to migrate to newer versions of Grails since 2014. Unfortunately, getting stuck on older versions of dependencies is the unfortunate reality for self-funded open-source projects; it's difficult to dig out of a pile of tech debt if you don't have funding.

We have slowly been working on an upgrade to Grails 3 (which supports Java 8) since 2019.

Unfortunately the project has been dormant for a year or more because we had to complete some large implementation projects and had limited developers / funding to support the upgrade. We applied for funding but no one wants to fund tech debt. Thankfully PIH has found resources to help us finish the migration project.

At this point we're probably 50% done so it will take a few months to get to 90-95% (which I would feel comfortable calling an alpha).

In the meantime, thankfully there are a few options for supported versions of JDK 7.

We use Azul JDK 7 https://www.azul.com/support-for-java-7-and-java-6/

[akostadinov]

I understand very well. In may day job I'm also in a vicious update cycle to get the project up to a reasonably new technology, updating one or a few things at a time to get another thing a little newer, just to get another thing a little newer and so on. It takes a lot of time.

So thank you very much for your effort.

I'm not overly concerned about formal support because I'm just in an exploratory phase for a project for a small NGO that can't afford support contracts. It's more about trying to ensure the project would have a future in the long run.