Canonical has announced that OpenJDK 11 has replaced OpenJDK 10 as the default Java package in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Canonical recently released Ubuntu 19.04 which also uses OpenJDK 11 as default, the move to bump the version in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS means that users who don’t want to upgrade can enjoy the latest features from OpenJDK 11.
OpenJDK is an open source implementation of Java and is used by developers around the world to develop enterprise-grade applications.
Writing in a blog post, Canonical explained the benefits that users will get from the update:
“Version 11 is the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of the open-source implementation of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE). It incorporates key security improvements, including an update to the latest Transport Layer Security (TLS) version, TLS 1.3, and the implementation of ChaCha20-Poly1305 cryptographic algorithms, a new stream cipher that can replace the less secure RC4.
This OpenJDK upgrade also includes fixes for build failures, JavaDoc tool improvements and the removal of deprecated APIs like Pack200, a compression scheme no longer needed for JAR files.”
The previous OpenJDK LTS was version 8. This version is still available but now resides in the community-supported universe repository where updates will be provided until April 2021. OpenJDK 8 will be supported on both Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and 18.04 LTS until it reaches its end of life.
The move to make OpenJDK 11 the default option in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS comes just days after Red Hat announced that it would become the steward of OpenJDK 8 and OpenJDK 11, taking over from Oracle. Following up on its announcement that it made in December about commercial support for OpenJDK on Microsoft Windows, Red Hat has said it will launch OpenJDK in a Microsoft installer in the next few weeks along with IcedTea-Web, a free software version of Java Web Start.
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