[kepler-dev] Java 7 and ant 1.8.2

[Christopher Brooks]

The only reason I know of to stick with Java 1.6 is that the version of 
Java that is supported by Apple for Mac OS X 10.7.

This is the version of MacOS X that runs on three year old Macs, such as 
the one I'm using right now.

Apple is still supplying patches for Java 1.6, see 
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5982, updated last October.

However, Java 7 is available for the Mac.

Requiring Java 7 is probably ok, but there could be some support costs 
in that Mac users will need to install Java before installing Kepler.

One additional complication is that the disk layout of Apple's 1.6 Java 
and Oracle's 1.7 and 1.8 Java differ.

This could cause problems with creating a one-click Mac app that has the 
proper stub to invoke Java.

Edward reported that the Apple 1.6 Vergil.app created by Ptolemy does 
not work on his new Mac.

It is unfortunate that people still insist on using Windows and that 
Windows has not kept up with the times.  Why there would be limits in 
the length of the classpath in this day and age is beyond me.    One 
possibility would be to look at how Eclipse handles the classpath.  
Presumably, they have similar issues. However, that seems like extra work

Bottom line: we can go ahead with this, but it will result in some small 
problems.

_Christopher


On 7/11/14 10:16 AM, Benjamin Leinfelder wrote:
> Hi Dan,
> Requiring Java 7 seems reasonable, especially if you want to use features only available in version 7. This will be for current development and the upcoming 2.5 release, correct?
> -ben
>
> On Jul 11, 2014, at 9:57 AM, Daniel Crawl <danielcrawl at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I'd like to require Java 7 for Kepler. Java 7 has new features and
>> better performance, and Oracle is no longer publicly releasing security
>> updates for Java 6. Does anyone object to Kepler requiring Java 7?
>>
>> For developers compiling Kepler, ant 1.8.2 or later is now required.
>> With the addition of new modules and jars, the class path has exceeded
>> the maximum path length on Windows. To avoid this problem, I've updated
>> the Kepler build system to use wildcards for the class path instead of
>> referencing individual jars. The earliest version of ant that supports
>> wildcards in the class path is 1.8.2.
>>
>>   --dan
>> _______________________________________________
>> Kepler-dev mailing list
>> Kepler-dev at kepler-project.org
>> http://lists.nceas.ucsb.edu/kepler/mailman/listinfo/kepler-dev
> _______________________________________________
> Kepler-dev mailing list
> Kepler-dev at kepler-project.org
> http://lists.nceas.ucsb.edu/kepler/mailman/listinfo/kepler-dev


-- 
Christopher Brooks, PMP                       University of California
Academic Program Manager & Software Engineer  US Mail: 337 Cory Hall
CHESS/iCyPhy/Ptolemy/TerraSwarm               Berkeley, CA 94720-1774
cxh at eecs.berkeley.edu, 707.332.0670           (Office: 545Q Cory)