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Re: [cross-project-issues-dev] Announcing JDK 9 support for Eclipse Neon

On 10/26/2015 07:31 PM, Mike Milinkovich wrote:
On 26/10/2015 7:50 AM, Jayaprakash Arthanareeswaran wrote:
At this point, I would like to call out that JDK 9 is unlike any other JDK versions of the past, notable change being the JAR
files (with platform classes) are giving way to a proprietary format. This update is not to be confused with Java 9 support,
though, which is about Java modules.

Jay,

Could you please elaborate on those two sentences? What is the proprietary format you are referring to? And perhaps I am not too
smart, but I don't understand the distinction that you're making between JDK 9 and Java 9 support.

Jay may correct me, but I'd describe it as such:

JDK 9 no longer ships the runtime libraries as a set of jars (rt.jar ...),
but as jimage files, the technical format of which is not subject to standardization.
Instead, API is provided for reading the content of such image.
(Hence: "proprietary format").
The BETA feature provides support for working with these jimage files.

By contrast, true Java 9 support would include support for the new
*language features* around Java modules. With the existing BETA feature
it is _not_ possible to create / compile / assemble such modules.
Compiler work in this area is only (shyly) starting just now.

any clearer?
Stephan




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