Removal of support for Java 5
Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:55 amDear all,
The OME project has evaluated the level of Java 5 usage across all of the libraries, clients and server components which we support, from Bio-Formats and its ImageJ plugin through to OMERO.server and its clients. We have found that the level of Java 5 usage has steadily declined throughout 2012 and 2013 to very low levels at the present day. Most components currently have zero Java 5 usage. A very small number of OMERO.insight users and a very small proportion of Bio-Formats users are still using Java 5.
In the absence of any major blocker, we plan to remove support for Java 5 in the upcoming 4.4.9 release, and in the next 5.0 beta release. At this point users and developers will require Java 6 or Java 7 for these and future releases.
Note that Java 5 has had no public updates since April 2008, and was end of life in October 2009 (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html). In particular, please be aware that it no longer has security updates.
We would be interested in hearing feedback if you are in a situation where it is not possible to upgrade to a more recent version of Java, and this change will cause problems. In particular, it would be useful to have the details of the system you are using.
Regards,
Roger Leigh
The OME project has evaluated the level of Java 5 usage across all of the libraries, clients and server components which we support, from Bio-Formats and its ImageJ plugin through to OMERO.server and its clients. We have found that the level of Java 5 usage has steadily declined throughout 2012 and 2013 to very low levels at the present day. Most components currently have zero Java 5 usage. A very small number of OMERO.insight users and a very small proportion of Bio-Formats users are still using Java 5.
In the absence of any major blocker, we plan to remove support for Java 5 in the upcoming 4.4.9 release, and in the next 5.0 beta release. At this point users and developers will require Java 6 or Java 7 for these and future releases.
Note that Java 5 has had no public updates since April 2008, and was end of life in October 2009 (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html). In particular, please be aware that it no longer has security updates.
We would be interested in hearing feedback if you are in a situation where it is not possible to upgrade to a more recent version of Java, and this change will cause problems. In particular, it would be useful to have the details of the system you are using.
Regards,
Roger Leigh