[oXygen-user] Java updates

[Oxygen XML Editor Support (Adrian Buza)]

Hello,

First, I'd like to point out that we do not recommend using a system 
wide Java for Oxygen. Any system wide Java update could potentially 
affect the app to the point that it may not start.

The reason we provide a bundled Java runtime in our Oxygen distribution 
is that we thoroughly test Oxygen against that specific version of Java 
and we make sure that it provides the best user experience at the time 
the product is released.
If there is a specific issue with the version of Java runtime bundled 
with Oxygen that has been fixed in later versions, we provide 
instructions for replacing the bundled Java runtime with a newer version.

>   1. Whether or not it's safe to update the system wide JDK to 1.9 (aka
>      Java 9) for oXygen 19.1.
Oxygen 19.1 does not support Java 9 and will not start with it. So, 
considering you removed the JRE bundled with Oxygen and it is now using 
the system wide JRE (or JDK), the answer is no, it's not safe to update 
that to Java 9.

>   2. Has oXygenXML Editor 19.1 been tested with JDK/JRE 1.9?
We have tested v19.1 and know it does not start with it. Java 9 makes 
some significant changes to the Java architecture and bundled libraries 
which breaks the Oxygen startup and several features during runtime.

>   3. If so, are there any known issues affecting oXygen with JDK 1.9?
For v19.1 and older, it simply won't start.

>   4. If so, would it be best to stick with JDK 1.8 for the moment?
For Oxygen 19.1 and older, there is no other option right now. Please 
stick with Java 8.


Solution:
Do not use a system wide Java with Oxygen. If you want to run Oxygen 
with the latest version of Java that is supported, replace the JRE 
bundled with Oxygen with the latest version of Java 8 available from Oracle:
1. Download the JRE .tar.gz distribution, e.g. jre-8u162-macosx-x64.tar.gz
2. Unpack it, rename its folder to 'jre.bundle' and move it to 
Oxygen/.install4j (after the old 'jre.bundle' has been removed or renamed).
3. Start Oxygen and check the Java version in Help > About, "System 
Properties" tab. Look for the "java.runtime.version" property.

Regards,
Adrian

Adrian Buza
oXygen XML Editor and Author Support

On 24.01.2018 00:50, Ben McGinnes wrote:
> Hello,
>
> 	So apparently Oracle are planning to EOL JDK 1.8 in September
> this year.  In addition to this, I tend to nuke the builtin version of
> Java bundles within oXygen in .install4j/jre.bundle and replace it
> with a symlink of .install4j/jre.bundle pointing to the system wide
> install at /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/current (which is itself
> a symlink pointing to the current version.
>
> So currently the oXygen installation contains this:
>
> bash-4.4$ ls -l /usr/local/oXygenXML/stable/oxygen/.install4j/jre.bundle
> lrwxr-xr-x  1 ben  wheel  41 20 Dec 08:16 /usr/local/oXygenXML/stable/oxygen/.install4j/jre.bundle -> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/current
> bash-4.4$ ls -l /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/current
> lrwxr-xr-x  1 root  wheel  50  1 Nov 03:18 /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/current -> /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/jdk1.8.0_151.jdk
> bash-4.4$
>
> What I need to know is:
>
>   1. Whether or not it's safe to update the system wide JDK to 1.9 (aka
>      Java 9) for oXygen 19.1.
>   2. Has oXygenXML Editor 19.1 been tested with JDK/JRE 1.9?
>   3. If so, are there any known issues affecting oXygen with JDK 1.9?
>   4. If so, would it be best to stick with JDK 1.8 for the moment?
>
> Copying the user list in because I'm reasonably sure others may be
> interested in the answers to this one.
>
>
> Regards,
> Ben
>