Java version error....

[beelzerob]

So, someone testing my plugin tried it on an older Sage client of theirs, and got a java version error. I suggested they update to the latest JRE and see if that fixed it...and it did.

Someone else, though, said that updating the JRE might break other things in Sage and so it would be best to use the version of JRE that came with/in Sage.

Maybe he had an older version of Sage, and that's why it's java was the wrong version?? Is telling people to update to the latest JRE good advice when they go to use my plugin? I notice that none of nielm's install stuff mentions doing that, even though it uses Java, which makes me think it's not a good idea to update the JRE independant of Sage.

[blade]

The newer versions of java have memory leaks. I've used some of the broken 1.5_xx versions without problems, but it is a documented bug and has given others fits.

If I were to suggest someone upgrade I'd point out the other problems it can cause. At least if they start having other problems they'd know it is likely due to java.

[GKusnick]

This is a real dilemma for plugin developers. To be conservative, you should do your Java coding to the 1.4 platform, since that's what Sage ships with and recommends. However there are a lot of language and API improvements in Java 1.5 that make it a much better platform for development (in my opinion). Unfortunately these new features aren't backward-compatible with the 1.4 runtime. I cut my Java teeth on 1.5, back when that was the version that shipped with Sage, and by now it's much too late for me to revert to 1.4 without a lot of agony. But if you're starting out fresh with new code, you might be well advised to forego the 1.5 features and stick with 1.4 for now.

There is a Java 1.6 platform in beta test now, and there's some hope that it may resolve these issues and allow us all to move forward with Java instead of backward, but there's been no official word yet from the Sage devs on that.

[beelzerob]

Heh..I didn't know any better to be concerned about this when I started...I just figured it's best to get the latest.

I guess I can warn people they may need to install the latest java JRE, but doing so may break other things. There....that puts the risky decision back in their hands.

[nielm]

There is a SF project called retroweaver which converts Java code compliled to Java 5 (1.5) standards to run on a Java 1.4 JRE...

I write all my stuff to Java 1.4 (and cry every time I need an enum!).