Java 60? upgrade#
Java 60? plus#

Depending on the OpenJDK vendor (Adoptium, Azul, Corretto, etc.), support might actually be available much longer. LTS versions, on the other hand, receive minor updates for years, at least until the next LTS release. Most non-LTS versions are supported with minor updates for about six months until approximately when the next version is released. Since the release of Java 9, however, the release cadence has been changed to every six months with a new Long Term Support (LTS) version released every three years. In the past, a new version of Java was released every couple of years. I hope to help teams quickly solve recurring issues so they can focus their efforts on application-specific challenges. IвЂ™ve witnessed the same issues while upgrading many applications.

Java 60? upgrade#

Upgrading can be difficult and estimating the amount of time may seem impossible, but often the actual upgrade process doesnвЂ™t take all that long. I recently migrated a Java 11 application to Java 16 and the only required task was to upgrade one Lombok dependency. ItвЂ™s an ideal Friday afternoon task to upgrade Java and see what happens. This was partly due to my previous experience, however, itвЂ™s also a matter of just starting the upgrade process. However, I managed a similar upgrade in just a matter of days. IвЂ™ve seen estimates ranging from weeks to months to upgrade a Java 8 application to Java 11. This may result in the organization or management postponing the upgrade due to the cost, time or other priorities. Unfortunately, due to the uncertainty, most developers estimate many days, weeks or even months for the upgrade. If you use Spring Boot, for example, then upgrading Spring Boot might already solve most upgrade issues. It depends on various elements such as the number of dependencies and how current they are. In fact, most applications running on Java 9 or higher havenвЂ™t configured Java modules in their codebase.Д®stimating the amount of work required for any upgrade can be a challenge. However, Java 9 didnвЂ™t require you to explicitly use the module system. Many developers see the Java 9 module system, AKA Jigsaw, as a big challenge. Luckily, some companies use Docker which can enable teams to upgrade those items by themselves. This is due to the required changes in the codebase and installing the latest version of Java on all the servers that build and run the application.

It is perceived that upgrading to a newer version of Java may require a significant amount of work.

Upgrading Is Sometimes Seen as a Challenge Doing so may also help organizations to retain existing employees and potentially attract new ones as developers are generally more eager to work on newer technologies. Keeping Java up-to-date helps to maintain a healthy application.

Java 60? plus#

Attend in-person QCon London (April 4-6, 2022) or online QCon Plus (May 10-20, 2022).Д®very new Java release, especially the major ones, contains improvements such that security vulnerabilities are resolved, performance is improved and new features are added. Uncover emerging trends and practices from domain experts. Upgrading your applicationвЂ™s dependencies already resolves most, if not all, of these issues. From my experience, the upgrade from Java 11 to Java 17 is easier compared to the upgrade from Java 8 to Java 11.

While upgrading Java can be challenging, itвЂ™s often a matter of hours or days.

If your application uses one of those features, then you need to resolve it when upgrading to a new version of Java.

Various features have been removed from the JDK such as fonts, certificates, tools and API methods.

That way, everyone is more eager to continue with the upgrade. Your teammates and management can see it as well.

Upgrade step-by-step so you can monitor the progress.

Simply get started, spend some time on the upgrade, and determine where the issues are.

This article and other resources can help solve common Java upgrading challenges.

However, upgrading is often easier than originally thought.

Estimating the amount of time and effort to upgrade to Java 16 or 17 may be difficult.