Consider moving to modern Java (17 LTS)

[KvanTTT]

Java 7 support reaches the end in the middle of 2022: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history. Moreover, it's extended support, not even the base.

I suggest moving to the latest modern LTS Java, namely Java 17 that was released in September 2021. Also, it contains a lot of new features and API that could greatly improve developers' performance.

[ericvergnaud]

Most users want to get bug fixes and improvements without making big jumps such as changing jvm.
I support dropping Java 7 in favor of Java 8 only.

[KvanTTT]

Anyway, Java 8 is also much better than Java 7, but also is outdated.

[ericvergnaud]

There would also be a benefit in releasing a Java 9 version in order fo benefit from Java modules.

[KvanTTT]

Java 9 is a bad choice because it's not LTS and it's already not supported. The better version is Java 11.

[parrt]

At this point I'm ready to move to a newer version of java... Getting this to compile is driving me crazy! Perhaps we tell people that need much earlier versions to use 4.9.3 or earlier?

[KvanTTT]

Yes, just write it to release notes.

[parrt]

Ok, so I've been playing around and I'm using java 8, the lowest version I could find on Oracle's website. Everything works fine using source and target 1.7 so we might as well leave it. I remember the android people or something needed an old version of Java so why upgrade if we don't have to. We can build with any version we want but the target can be left at 1.7 I think.

[ericvergnaud]

Keeping Java 7 stops us from modernizing the code. So I would recommend dropping it.

[KvanTTT]

It will be possible to use one of the latest versions (say 17 or at least 11) for building but with any target >= 1.7? Do I understand correctly?

[KvanTTT]

Otherwise, Java 7 syntax is too inconvenient and verbose, it's quite tediously to write on it. It looks like talking to a simpleton. I also recommend dropping it.

[parrt]

Which is min version you recommend? jdk 8? that's easy to do as i have #3392 already in progress.

[parrt]

by the way I will leave the target as 7 but we can set the source minimum as 8.

[parrt]

shit. looks like 1.8 must gen 1.7 at least in maven. :( Maybe we go to java 11? I'll try it.

[parrt]

hahah. i'll keep trying

[INFO] Compiling 218 source files to /Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/target/test-classes
WARNING: An illegal reflective access operation has occurred
WARNING: Illegal reflective access by org.antlr.v4.test.runtime.CommentHasStringValueProcessor (file:/Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/processors/target/antlr4-runtime-test-annotation-processors-4.9.4-SNAPSHOT.jar) to field com.sun.tools.javac.model.JavacElements.javaCompiler

[parrt]

java 11 seems a no go. can't use javac internals?

[ERROR] Failed to execute goal org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin:3.8.1:compile (default-compile) on project antlr4-runtime-test-annotation-processors: Compilation failure: Compilation failure: 
[ERROR] /Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/processors/src/org/antlr/v4/test/runtime/CommentHasStringValueProcessor.java:[9,31] error: package com.sun.tools.javac.main does not exist
[ERROR] /Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/processors/src/org/antlr/v4/test/runtime/CommentHasStringValueProcessor.java:[10,32] error: package com.sun.tools.javac.model does not exist
[ERROR] /Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/processors/src/org/antlr/v4/test/runtime/CommentHasStringValueProcessor.java:[11,31] error: package com.sun.tools.javac.tree does not exist
[ERROR] /Users/parrt/antlr/code/antlr4/runtime-testsuite/processors/src/org/antlr/v4/test/runtime/CommentHasStringValueProcessor.java:[12,31] error: package com.sun.tools.javac.tree does not exist

this is after adding:

                        <compilerArgs>
                            <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.main=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                            <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.util=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                            <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.model=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                            <arg>-J--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.tree=ALL-UNNAMED</arg>
                        </compilerArgs>

[parrt]

ha!! This guy built a tools.jar dependency:

<dependency>
  <groupId>com.github.olivergondza</groupId>
  <artifactId>maven-jdk-tools-wrapper</artifactId>
  <version>0.1</version>
</dependency>

[parrt]

Pushed new change to mac/appveyor...hoping it'll fix. off to teach for 2 hours.

[KvanTTT]

It looks like fixed on AppVeyor, but there are the following errors during building:

[ERROR] 
Maven dependencies of Maven Plugins should be in provided scope.
Please make sure that all your dependencies declared in POM whose group ID is
org.apache.maven have set '<scope>provided</scope>' as well.
In the future this error will break the build.
The following dependencies are in wrong scope:
 * org.apache.maven:maven-plugin-api:jar:3.8.4:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-model:jar:3.8.4:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-artifact:jar:3.8.4:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-settings:jar:3.8.4:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-repository-metadata:jar:3.8.4:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-project:jar:2.2.1:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-profile:jar:2.2.1:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-artifact-manager:jar:2.2.1:compile
 * org.apache.maven:maven-plugin-registry:jar:2.2.1:compile
Please fix your build!
[ERROR]

But it's still failing on Mac:

Error:  Failed to execute goal io.takari.maven.plugins:takari-lifecycle-plugin:2.0.7:testProperties (testProperties) on project antlr4-maven-plugin: The plugin io.takari.maven.plugins:takari-lifecycle-plugin:2.0.7 requires Maven version [3.6.3,) -> [Help 1]
Error:  
Error:  To see the full stack trace of the errors, re-run Maven with the -e switch.
Error:  Re-run Maven using the -X switch to enable full debug logging.
Error:  
Error:  For more information about the errors and possible solutions, please read the following articles:
Error:  [Help 1] http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/PluginIncompatibleException
Error:  
Error:  After correcting the problems, you can resume the build with the command
Error:    mvn <goals> -rf :antlr4-maven-plugin
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

[parrt]

Yeah, weird. that exact thing works on my mac. Will mess with plugins:takari-lifecycle-plugin versions I guess.

[parrt]

I can't fix the Please fix your build! as I don't know maven but just pushed fix I hope for takari bullshit.

[parrt]

Works much better but still screwed up in mac build at github:

Error:  Failed to execute goal org.antlr:antlr4-maven-plugin:4.9.4-SNAPSHOT:antlr4 (default) on project antlr4-runtime-testsuite: The plugin org.antlr:antlr4-maven-plugin:4.9.4-SNAPSHOT requires Maven version 3.8 -> [Help 1]

I don't know how to fix this. (And it works locally on mac.). This is a circular dependency. Ideas @KvanTTT ?

[parrt]

Oh duh. github uses 3.5.4 so i'll change setup.

[parrt]

Ok, we're back to passing! Well, linux times out on parsing tests for C++. :( Should we remove "Travis-CI Build Status (Swift-Linux)" since it seems out of date and we test swift on mac?

[parrt]

Ok, I have been able to get this to build now with 1.8 and 11 but with source and target 1.7 in the maven pom, so I'm going to leave it. See #3392 lots of incompatibility between the different versions and I don't want to make a maven file that is really sensitive to the Java version. This project is super complicated with all of the use of the internal javac tools.jar stuff that went away and now this module crap in java...ugh.

[KvanTTT]

But I think such conversion can be automated.

[parrt]

oh that is true!! it gens tests now but could be modified to regenerate itself in text files. (I agree that xml/json and friends are such overkill.)

[KvanTTT]

I can try next year if you don't mind such changes.

[parrt]

First, I'd like to hear what @ericvergnaud thinks but it ain't a hard no ;)

[KvanTTT]

And it's possible to use ANTLR-generated parser to parse Java files.

[ericvergnaud]

Originally the tests were in separate files, but that created a bit of a complexity coz you needed 4 files: grammar, input, errors, output The comments approach make it possible to guarantee that a change only affects the corresponding test, which I like. It also makes it encouraging to write more tests. I’m pretty sure we can get this working with Java 8 for the runtime and Java 17 for the tool. Right now I’m a bit busy, but happy to join efforts with Ivan sometime in the future.

…

Le 8 déc. 2021 à 22:53, Terence Parr ***@***.***> a écrit : First, I'd like to hear what @ericvergnaud <https://github.com/ericvergnaud> thinks but it ain't a hard no ;) — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#3369 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAZNQJBDI3DV27UVLZ4SEWTUP7HVBANCNFSM5I6QQJWA>.

[parrt]

haha. cool. Heh, do you guys know https://bazel.build/ ? The Google guys are offering to donate build files... i'd love to use a build system that my small brain understands. if this Bazel is any good...

[KvanTTT]

I haven't heard about it. But I'm not sure it's able to easily resolve all our problems with building.

[parrt]

Agreed. a separate issue.

[parrt]

I jumped over to fix my tensor-sensor lib today but I can think about this testing thing again soon. also I have to grade exams starting tomorrow.

[KvanTTT]

I work on weekdays, but I'm mostly free on weekends. Firstly, I would like to enable C++ test on Windows (#3389) and refactor runtime test infrastructure (#3367).

[parrt]

Ok, my new galactic overlords can only use Java 11 at this time and must build from src not use jar. I'll rebuild tests to use resource files of some flavor and set src=11, target=8.

[jcking]

IMO the preferred stance would be allowing ANTLR to require the previous Java LTS version. Today the most recent LTS is Java 17 with the previous LTS being Java 11, thus ANTLR should be free to require Java 11. This creates a happy medium.

[parrt]

Yep, i'm rebuilding test rig now to remove dependence on javac tools.jar and will set src to 11, target to 8.

[parrt]

Ok, merged 3rd gen test rig. Compiles with java 17 it appears but set at 1.8 src/trg. Happy to have someone figure out how to make this 11 src, 7 or 8 trg.

[parrt]

Just to keep this thread up to date: current build after I merged the test rig update we are stuck at version 8 java for source and target.

[Techcable]

When this is done do you plan to include a module-info.java file for the runtime? I wanna use jlink for my app but that's difficult to do without modules :(

Also, It seems that recent java versions don't play well with maven on my Mac 😦 I can't even get antlr to build.

[KvanTTT]

We moved only to Java 8. As I understand modules are supported since 9. Does your info relate to it?

Also, It seems that recent java versions don't play well with maven on my Mac 😦 I can't even get antlr to build.

Is Java 8 supported?

[parrt]

@Techcable What specifically is going wrong with the maven build?

[Techcable]

@Techcable What specifically is going wrong with the maven build?

Upon further investigation, it seems that a good deal of my problems seem to be related to not having the other language SDKs installed (dart, C#, python2, etc). Strangely, it seems like a lot of the tests fail too (even for the Java runtime).

Updating antlr (git pull) & maven seems to have fixed most of the isues with the build itself 🤷 Some tests fail but it doesn't clearly seem related to the build system 😄

If you're planning to move to Java 11, does that mean you are planning to add a module-info.java?

[ericvergnaud]

We've moved the tool to Java 11 but kept the runtime as Java 8 to avoid breaking things (Java 8 is till widely used), so no module-info

[parrt]

@Techcable Yeah, I only test a few targets locally since I don't have all of those languages installed... I rely on the continuous integration to handle those other tests.