[arch-general] How to have multiple JDKs parallel?

[Doug Newgard]

On Mon, 17 Sep 2018 18:20:49 +0200
Guillaume ALAUX via arch-general <arch-general at archlinux.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 5:48 PM Carsten Mattner via arch-general
> <arch-general at archlinux.org> wrote:
> >
> > On 9/17/18, Eli Schwartz via arch-general <arch-general at archlinux.org> wrote:
> >  
> > > So essentially what you really want is a way for pacman to remember your
> > > choice. That would require pacman modify its configuration which is
> > > something that goes against the current architecture... What would happen
> > > instead is pacman.conf could be used to configure this.
> > >
> > > I'm not sure if IgnorePkg or HoldPkg would have an effect here...  
> >
> > The way I read it, what's being suggested is something like Debian's
> > update-alternatives. https://wiki.debian.org/DebianAlternatives
> >
> > Or a JVM version manager ala pyenv etc. Not sure.  
> 
> Just to give some backing: here is the official explanation of what
> has already been stated before about JDK versions:
> 
> "[…] non‑LTS releases are considered a cumulative set of
> implementation enhancements of the most recent LTS release. Once a new
> feature release is made available, any previous non‑LTS release will
> be considered superseded. For example, Java SE 9 was a non‑LTS release
> and immediately superseded by Java SE 10 (also non‑LTS), Java SE 10 in
> turn is immediately superseded by Java SE 11." [0]
> 
> So keeping OpenJDK 9 in our repo while OpenJDK 10 is out would be the
> same as keeping say OpenJDK 8.u181 while OpenJDK 8.u182 is out! Even
> though I can understand the (developer) use case, this is clearly out
> of Arch Linux' scope.
> 
> [0] http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/eol-135779.html
> 
> Guillaume

Going forward with the new release policies, would it be better to just have an
openjdk/openjre package that's always the latest version, then versioned
packages for the lts releases, such as they are?