Automic Workload Automation

Hi.

Many Automic products rely on Java. As far as I know, at present time, the highest supported Java version is SE 1.8 (aka Java 8).

Oracle has recently announced that, unlike private users, companies will not be permitted to download Java 1.8 updates in conjunction with non-Oracle software beyond January 2019, at least not without the purchase of an additional company  license. This includes critical and security updates.

Apparently, Oracle has adapted an Ubuntu-style release cycle of one release every six months, and version numbers for Java. Oracle seemingly has decided that companies are to migrate quickly away from 1.8 and towards 1.9 (aka Java 9) or 1.10 (aka Java 10, aka Java 18.3), and then again migrate quickly to Java 11 (aka 18.9), which will be a so called LTS-release with long term support (well, at least longer than six months).

I ask whether Automic is aware of this already, and whether Java 1.9 (or 1.10) will be officially cleared for use by January 2019.

Oracle Java Roadmap

Thanks.

(edit: I'm actually not 100% sure if this concerns just the JDK, or also the JRE ...)

Hi Carsten,

The current plan is to support the versions marked LTS by Oracle so we would next support Java 11 (18.9 LTS - GA Sept 18) as that is the next LTS version.

For the non-LTS versions of Java, the release cycles are far too short.

Does this make sense in your environment? I am interested in customer validation for this approach.

cheers

David

David Ainsworth                          
Director, Product Management

Hello ainda02,

Do you also plan to support the new Java 11 LTS version for "older" Automation Engine/Automation Agent versions, in our case 12.0.x?

Or do we need to user the newest branch of engine and agents (could be 12.2.x at September '18)?

Thank you in advance and regards from Germany,

Renatus

Hello,

Oracle do make statements of compatibility between versions so the Java 11 should be compatible with previous versions of AE.

We will test this to ensure compatibility.

cheers

David

Hi David,

Many thanks for your response, much appreciated as always.

I have mixed feelings about moving from Java 8 directly to Java 11. On paper, it's sufficient - Java 8 company support stops 1/2019, Java 11 is expected 9/2018. If this turns out to be a simple "either/or" with the Java version, I'd say your plan is perfectly fine. If there would be commitment by Automic to Java 11 by no later then 9/2018, customers could update their Java from 8 to 11 in that window of about three months (though it'd still be a close call, with updating dev and test systems first).

However, this has one caveat: I have read that Java 11 (and in fact 9 and 10 possibly as well) have made significant changes to the class loader, which might mean that many libraries and old code may not work with Java 11 without changes. I can't find the original resource right now, only this, and I'm by far no Java expert, so I have no clue what this means.

But at least this might mean that Java 11 may not be just a drop-in replacement. Worst case, it's incompatible and you'd have to make an Automic release that abandons support for Java 8 (again, this would be the absolute worst case). In case code changes are required, but they can be compatible with old Java after the changes, it might still mean Automic needs to make a release that has those code changes in it. In those cases, the three month window may be insufficient.

Hence, I'm very grateful for you asking my opinion, but it depends:

Has Automic already investigated if (or how far reaching) changes may need to be done for Java 11? Will you guys do internal testing with Java 9 and 10 on road to Java 11, to discover potential issues early? Will it neccessitate a new release (information that will be vital for rsfischer's question above). This should definetly be investigated early.

Also, I do realize that Oracle has dictated a tight schedule here, and I don't believe Oracle is doing the Java community a service with the new release policy. But as they say ... some companies have clients. Oracle has hostages

Cheers,

Carsten

Hi Carsten,

Oracle do make statements of compatibility between versions so the Java 11 should be compatible with previous versions of AE.

We will test this to ensure compatibility.

cheers

David

CA (Automic) has made progress on the research into adding Oracle OpenJDK / Java 11 compatibility.

Due to the number of features and options that have been dropped from Oracle OpenJDK / Java 11, there is a significant amount of development required by CA (Automic) to achieve compatibility and Java 11 / Oracle OpenJDK cannot be made compatible with current or previous versions of AE.

Support for Oracle Java 8, Oracle Java 11 and OpenJDK 11 builds from jdk.java.net/11 will be offered in V12.3 which is currently planned for release in Q1 2019.

David Ainsworth

Update on the release date for Automic Engine V12.3 which will contain support for Oracle Java 8, Oracle Java 11 and OpenJDK 11 builds from jdk.java.net/11.

The release was planned for Q1 2019 and that plan has now changed. The release is now planned for mid 2019.

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David Ainsworth