Q: target version (1.4, 1.5 or 1.6) for java-bytecode-format backward compatibility

[Hideki Yamane]

Hi,

 About "incompatible-java-bytecode-format with OpenJDK 7 as default-jdk" issue,
 I wonder which version should be specified to keep backward compatibility.
 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.tag=java7-bytecode

 I've found this is reported in LP#1049779.
 And I've investigated how should be fixed, and specifying target version
 is good way. But I cannot decide which version would be used.


 In Bug#673177, it is specified with 1.4.
 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=673177

>    * Build class files with source/target = 1.4 to ensure backwards
>      compatibility. Thanks to James Page. (Closes: #673177)

 And Bug#679365, it is 1.5.
 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=679365

> diff -Nru pylucene-3.5.0/debian/ant.properties pylucene-3.5.0/debian/ant.properties
> --- pylucene-3.5.0/debian/ant.properties	1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
> +++ pylucene-3.5.0/debian/ant.properties	2012-06-28 10:15:05.000000000 +0200
> @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
> +# Ensure that source and target are 1.5
> +# For backwards compat on Java 7
> +ant.build.javac.source=1.5
> +ant.build.javac.target=1.5


 However, James said "Default base target version should be Java6" in 
 discussion for lintian.
 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=673276

 So, 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?


> This is somewhat complicated by the fact that on kfreebsd we still don't have
> openjdk, so we're using GCJ/GIJ, which is really a 1.5 implementation.

 If it's true, 1.5. If not, 1.6 IMO.


-- 
Regards,

 Hideki Yamane     henrich @ debian.or.jp/org
 http://wiki.debian.org/HidekiYamane