JDK Releases

The naming, versioning and types of Java releases has changed a number of times; the information on this page is not a complete history and details may be missing from the very early releases.

Java Release Types

Different types of Java releases are made available, some of them include new enhancements and can be adopted over time, whereas some contain vulnerability fixes and should be adopted as quickly as possible. Some release types have changed in line with the versioning and release model changes, and are no longer produced.

Java Release Dates

In 2013 the Java Security release model changed to be in line with the Oracle Critical Patch Update (CPU) schedule where CPU releases are released on the third Tuesday of January, April, July and October. Prior to April 2022 the rule was Tuesday closest to the 17th of those months. Full details can be found here, along with instructions on how to subscribe to CPU Alert notifications. Feature releases are scheduled for release in the middle of March and September. The exact dates are posted several months in advance on https://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk.

Java Release Support Timeline

The length of time updates are provided for a Feature release is outlined in the Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap. Long Term Support (LTS) releases are indicated in the follow table with "LTS".

Java Release Naming and Numbering

When first released Java was named Java Development Kit and abbreviated as JDK. With the release of Java version 2 there was a rebranding to Java 2 - full name: Java 2 Software Development Kit, abbreviated to Java 2 SDK or J2SDK. With the release of JDK 6 we went back to using JDK without the “2”.

The Java version-string format has changed several times throughout the years. The following table outlines the main changes.

Code Names

Code names were used for early Java releases; the Major releases were named after birds or mammals, while the minor releases were named after insects (given they were bug-fix releases). Hopper was short for grasshopper and ladybird is the British name used for a ladybug. The 1.2 release was called "Playground" by some, but that was never an official or broadly-used code name. The practice of naming releases ended with JDK 7.

Java SE Platform

The Java Community Process (JCP) standardizes and ratifies the Java SE Platform via a Java Specification Request (JSR). Every JSR consists of three components: a Specification, a Reference Implementation (RI), and a Technology Compatibility Toolkit (TCK). The purpose of the RI is to prove that the Specification may be implemented, and the TCK is a test suite used to verify that the implementation is compliant with the Specification.

For the JSR which standardizes the Java SE Platform, the Platform JSR Specification consists of the Java SE API Specification, the Java Language Specification (JLS), the Java Virtual Machine Specification (JVMS), and further narrative specifications such as the JNI Specification, the JAR File Specification, and the Serialization Specification. Each Feature (previously "Major") Release of the JDK is the RI for the corresponding Platform JSR and finally, the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK) is the TCK for the Java SE Platform.

In addition to the Specification of the Java SE Platform, the JDK is further specified by a number of other documents including the Tool Specifications (more commonly referred to as the "man" pages), the JDK API Specifications (see the 'JDK' tab in the javadoc), and the Standard Doclet Specification.

The typical update release does not make any changes to the Specification of the Java SE Platform. However, in exceptional circumstances when a specification change is needed, a Maintenance Release (MR) of the Platform JSR is required - the following table lists every MR of the Java SE Platform JSRs:

(1) Programmatic access to the maintenance specification version was originally added to JDK 19 and backported to JDK 8 with JSR 337 MR 4, JDK 11 with JSR 384 MR 2 and JDK 17 with JSR 392 MR 1.

(2) The JCP requires that each Maintenance Release includes an RI, although that RI should not be used in production. Instead, the update release of the JDK which corresponds to ('implements') the MR should be used in production. For example, JDK 8u381 should be used instead of JDK 8u43

The JCP was created in December 1998. Prior to Java SE 8, all significant new features were developed by independent JSRs under the JCP then incorporated by reference in the Platform JSR. Starting with Java SE 8, this practice was discontinued, and the JDK Enhancement Proposal (JEP) Process was introduced. When a JEP of "Scope = 'SE'" is targeted to a specific release, it is linked in the Platform JSR.

Additional Information

• In 2010 Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems Inc., releases after mid 2010 were re-branded from Sun to Oracle.
• Prior to Java 11 in 2018, a Java release included both a JRE and a JDK, whereas in Java 11 and later, a Java release consists solely of the JDK.
• Updates to the supported Crypto algorithms are tracked in the JDK Crypto Roadmap.
• The mapping of TZ data to release is available in the Timezone Data Mapping page.