Re: [eclipse-pmc] Java 11 runtime support in ecj in 4.28

[Mickael Istria <mistria@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

> I'm not in favor of moving up Java versions for a component without actual code changes in the component that start using new features out of the new Java version.

It's a kind of chicken-egg problem: contributors often focus on their task and will avoid disrupting project constraints to achieve this particular task and will cope with the constraints and the constraint will remain because it's the priority of no-one to change it while achieving their current task; thus by not moving to a newer Java pro-actively, we reduce on a relatively long-term the ability for contributors to use newer Java constructs that they'd like to use. By having the project leadership proactively removing such constraint, then contributors feel empowered to use newer Java feature (which are usually worth it) as soon as they want and thus we're more likely to get the code more modern, hopefully making it more welcoming and easier to maintain.