A quick update on the status of our support for Azul JDK:
Our planned roll out of ColdFusion support of the Azul Zulu OpenJDK (including new CF installers) has been put on hold. We will continue for now with our regular update cycles, supporting the Oracle JVM (JDK or JRE).
We expect to provide further updates on Java support changes by December 2021.
Below was the original text of this post, now stricken out, but left to provide context.
To be clear: the pre-release remains open for now, with the planned updates for CF2021 (update 2) and CF2018 (update 12) that were also part of the prerelease, as well as the AWS Lambda support, and more.
Effective July 21st 2021, ColdFusion customers can develop and operate their CF applications with distributions of the Azul Zulu builds of OpenJDK, standards compliant with Java SE. Support for the Azul Zulu JDKs will be provided by Adobe to our CF customers.
On July 21st, ColdFusion installers for ColdFusion (2018 release) and ColdFusion (2021 release) with the Azul JDKs will be available for download from https://www.adobe.com/support/coldfusion/downloads.html.
In the interim, we’ve set up a pre-release, where ColdFusion customers can try out the Azul based installers (https://adobe.ly/3zipSx2) . We encourage you to review the installation steps, try the build and share any feedback.
The usage rights for the Oracle Java technology as distributed by Adobe will expire by in December 2022. We encourage our customers to plan and implement Azul Zulu JDKs sooner- to better leverage future ColdFusion updates, patches, and bug fixes.
For more information about the usage of the Oracle Java technology please refer to the associated FAQ on our pre-release site (https://adobe.ly/3zipSx2)
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Here’s something else not clear here: will the updated Azul support still allow us to use ONLY update to Java 11? Or might this new CF installer be including a version of Java greater than 11? (Same question about the planned CF update).
For example, Oracle and Azul are currently supporting Java 16. As some may know, Oracle has gone on a tear with many short-lived releases since Jan 2019. I know that CF2018 had added support for Java 12 when it came out then, but by the time it did, Java 12 was already no longer supported by Oracle. Since then we have seen 13, 14, 15, and now 16 come out (and only the latter is supported by Oracle currently).
My suspicion has been that Adobe would not be offering updated support for any later Java version until Oracle came out with the next planned “LTS” (long-term support version), expected to be 17. Azul and other jdk’s tend to follow the same naming and timing of releases.
If indeed the answer from Adobe is that this July update will indeed still only offer support for Azul Java 11, is there any current stated plan for what will happen when Oracle and Azul DO release their next LTS version? 17 has been due in about October, so it would be rough if another new CF installer might be needed to enable support for Java 17.
Great to see that an update is due to be released at the same time (see Vamsee’s reply to my previous comment). I misread it initially so I am editing my comment there simply to say “thanks”. 🙂
One thing not clear from this: can you confirm, Kishore, that we won’t HAVE to apply the new installers as the only way to get the new Java support? Won’t you also be offering a CF update (after then or at the same time), that would allow us to point our existing (updated) CF2021 or 2018 at a Azul Java 11 we may implement ourselves? That’s pretty critical (and may seem a given, from past experience, but it was not indicated here).
And Carl, I will note also that in the past, when Adobe created new installers, they did indeed include the then-latest CF updates (and web server connector, etc.), which is great. But sure, I guess it’s also worth asking to be sure. 🙂
One point in particular: given that the updated support for Azul will only be offered for CF2021 and 2018 (not CF2016 and below), this removal of Adobe’s coverage of Oracle JVM licensing in Dec 2022 will be quite a “ticking timebomb” that ALL CF users should be aware of, as it will affect even those running CF2016 or 11 or 10, if they are running on versions of Java 11 or even 8 (if they have updated it beyond update 202, when in Jan 2019 Oracle changed their licensing for that or later JVMs), as those folks would in Dec 2022 need to pay Oracle for their use of such “updated” Oracle JVMs. Of course, Adobe’s point here is that if you would upgrade to CF2018 or above, you’d also be “covered”.
There are a few more questions and clarifications on all this, and I am creating a blog post on the topic, which I would update with any new info offered here or elsewhere.
Hi Charlie, an update will also be available around the same time. The scope of the update though is just bug fixes. Swapping Oracle Java with Azul is something users will need to do. And yes, the full installers will have the latest update baked in.
Please support Eclipse Adoptium (formerly AdoptOpenJDK) as well. All OpenJDK variants are nearly identical and so long as they pass the Java TCK, they should be supported. It’s better to support a standard/spec than specific vendors.
Hi Brad,
Good point. We will evaluate this as we go along. For now, the scope is limited to just Azul.
Regards,
Vamsee
While you’re updating installers, can you make sure they include the latest updates for each version as well? This will save users some time/headaches when setting up new servers.
Hi Carl,
The installers do have latest update baked in.
Regards,
Vamsee
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