Windchill 10.2 M020 and Java 8

Forum|Forum|11 years ago
October 17, 2014
9 replies
6687 views

Does anyone know if Windchill 10.2 M020 will eventually support Java 8 via a CPS? Currently 10.2 M030 is slated to support Java 8, but we are upgrading before M030 is released. It seems odd that we would be installing the LATEST version of Windchill and be behind the ball immediately out of the gate (in regards to Java). Also Java is going to discontinue support early 2015. PTC really needs to get a handle on this Java issue.

Other

Best answer by jessh

First off, to answer the question, I don't know if Java 8 support will be added to 10.2 M020 via a CPS. I'm pretty sure that it's not out of the question, but I can't say for certain.

Secondly, I should clarify a few things here.

While Java 8 was released some time ago now, it almost always takes a couple of Java maintenance releases after any initial major Java release for quality to reach the point where one should contemplate moving to it in production. Additionally, it also takes some lead time for PTC to fully test (and fix where necessary) a Windchill release against a new Java client version. Thus while it's unfortunate, it's not a total surprise that M020 did not initially contain Java 8 client support, even though it was released after Java 8.
As far as "Java" discontinuing support in early 2015, what's being referred to here is that Oracle currently plans to stop providing free maintenance/security updates to Java 7 in April 2015. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html#Java6-end-public-updates.
From my own testing, almost all Windchill applets work fine with Java 8. I did find a couple of features in a couple of administrative applets that didn't work, but that was it in my testing. I'd also note that one has to enable RMI tunneling for Windchill applets to run under Java 8, due to changes Java 8 made to the applet security model. Finally, one still needs the various Windchill fixes and Site Exception List setting that one needed to run applets under the latest Java 7 releases.

H

hlinseisen

1-Visitor

I think you should simply try out whether it works by replacing the jdk within the Windchill installation. In the past we also ran windchill with a newer jdk even if it was not "supported" by PTC which only means that theydid not fully test it.
Apart from that i can't see any features in Java 8 urgently nedded for Windchill development.ay

By the way all the java applets work with a jre 8 installed.

J

jessh

Answer

12-Amethyst

First off, to answer the question, I don't know if Java 8 support will be added to 10.2 M020 via a CPS. I'm pretty sure that it's not out of the question, but I can't say for certain.

Secondly, I should clarify a few things here.

While Java 8 was released some time ago now, it almost always takes a couple of Java maintenance releases after any initial major Java release for quality to reach the point where one should contemplate moving to it in production. Additionally, it also takes some lead time for PTC to fully test (and fix where necessary) a Windchill release against a new Java client version. Thus while it's unfortunate, it's not a total surprise that M020 did not initially contain Java 8 client support, even though it was released after Java 8.
As far as "Java" discontinuing support in early 2015, what's being referred to here is that Oracle currently plans to stop providing free maintenance/security updates to Java 7 in April 2015. See http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/eol-135779.html#Java6-end-public-updates.
From my own testing, almost all Windchill applets work fine with Java 8. I did find a couple of features in a couple of administrative applets that didn't work, but that was it in my testing. I'd also note that one has to enable RMI tunneling for Windchill applets to run under Java 8, due to changes Java 8 made to the applet security model. Finally, one still needs the various Windchill fixes and Site Exception List setting that one needed to run applets under the latest Java 7 releases.

G

GregOlson

Author

16-Pearl

Jess,

Thank you for the reply.

Who can I contact to get an answer in regards to Java 8 support being added via CPS or a patch at a later date (tech support didn't know)?

I am just concerned that upgrading to M020 will lead to many Java issues a year or two from now....once Java gets extremely outdated, the client machines get randomly blocked from using apps unless an update is done. Also if there is an issue with Java 8, your tech support will do nothing unless supported. Dealing with Java and Windchill has been a constant battle for years now, I just need to make the right decisions now to avoid issues the later.