Re: Java versions

["Larry Loen" <lwloen@xxxxxxxxxx>]

"Would it be wise to get rid of. . .[other Java versions]"

As long as you know you are using a particular Java version you wish,
there's no special harm in having the others around in case other
people (or, other software your shop purchases) will need them.

It is fairly likely that having stuff before 1.1.8 is getting marginal;
1.1.8 is
probably enough such that 1.1.6 and 1.1.7 could be eliminated
nowadays.  But, I won't delete them until I was very sure
all my site's dependencis on particular versions were accounted for.

Now, 1.2 or 1.3 over 1.1.8 is a much different thing.  I would keep at
least 1.1.8 hanging around for some time to come.  But, since you
are talking about 1.1.x, let's talk about that.

Some programs apparently can depend on particular Java versions;
maybe some support personnel may not be aware that 1.1.8 is
supposed to be upward compatible from 1.1.7 or be instructed not
to accept 1.1.8 as a replacement for a 1.1.7 dependency.  It's a big
complicated world out there.

This isn't, in other words, entirely a technical question.  It relates
to who depends on what and how people support stuff.  And, on
the iSeries, 1.1.8 over 1.1.7 isn't a big issue, because we have a
lot in the JVM that is associated with the OS/400 release.  Other
JVMs tend to tie improvments and fixes directly
to the 1.1.x or whatever it is.  Going to 1.1.8 over 1.1.7
for the other platforms that a given Java-based
product supports is a bigger deal and the support strategy
may reflect that (without differentiating for iSeries).

Moreover, as time goes on, more and more products may have some
Java content that won't immediately catch one's eye.  This is
going to become something that will eventually require a pretty
significant amount of attention and, probably, two or three
concurrent versions in a typical shop.

Certainly, one should keep track of what major products like
your current version of WebSphere require at the least.


Larry W. Loen  -   Senior Java and AS/400 Performance Analyst
                          Dept HP4, Rochester MN



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