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Oracle asks for more time to finish Java 9

Eight weeks needed to sort out missing pieces of Jigsaw platform module system

Oracle's asked for more time to sort out Java 9 in light of the community's rejection of the proposed Java Platform Module System.

The chief architect of Big Red's Java Platform Group, Mark Reinhold, has hit the openjdk mailing list to address the vote against JPMS (JSR 376 , aka “Jigsaw”) due to land with JDK 9.

In his post, Reinhold says “This vote does not mean that JSR 376 is dead, nor that Jigsaw has been rejected. It only means that the Executive Committee raised a number of concerns that it wanted the JSR 376 Expert Group (EG) to address.”

And address them it shall, within the rules that allow expert groups 30 days to offer a revised spec to put to a second Executive Committee vote. That revision is due on or before June 26th, which is four days after the expected publication of JDK 9's first release candidate.

With that timeline now messed up, Reinhold reckons the safe thing to do is move the date of general release from July 27th, 2017 to September 21st, 2017.

By El Reg's count that's the fourth significant delay to JDK 9, which was first proposed to ship on September 22nd, 2016, then suggested for March 23rd, 2017. But in September 2016, Reinhold said the release had so many bugs it would be best to aim for June 22nd.

Plenty of those problems were Jigsaw-related. But Reinhold writes that Jigsaw's problems code and conceptual problems both look to be almost behind it, as the dissenters who voted it down appear to be satisfied with some new code and “additional clarifications” about its workings.

The Java community has until June 6th to make alternative suggestions, otherwise Reihnold's proposal will stick. At the time of writing his thread had received no public feedback, suggesting September 21st will be the day. Unless something else goes pear-shaped. ®

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