This page last changed on May 15, 2011 by pwatson.

This notice was first published on 6 July 2010 with the release of Confluence 3.3. As from Confluence 3.3, Java 5 is no longer supported. You will need Java 6 or later.

What is happening?

As part of the ongoing development of Confluence, we have raised our minimum supported version of the Java platform.

  • Confluence 3.2 was the last major version to support Java 5.
  • Confluence 3.3 and later require at least Java 6.

What does this mean to me?

 

I use Confluence

Users of Confluence websites should see absolutely no change.

I administer a Confluence Server

If you are running Confluence 3.2 or one of the 3.2.x patch releases, your current version of Confluence will continue to run in your current environment without change.

If you choose to upgrade to Confluence 3.3, you will need to ensure your environment is running at least Java 6.

You can check your current Java version in Confluence:

  1. Go to the Confluence 'Administration Console':

    • Choose Browse > Confluence Admin. The 'Administrator Access' login screen will be displayed.
    • Enter your password and click Confirm. You will be temporarily logged into a secure session to access the 'Administration Console'.
  2. Select 'System Information' from the 'Administration' section in the left-hand panel.
  3. Refer to 'Java Version'.
    • If the version is 1.6 or higher, you do not need to do anything.
    • If the version is 1.5, you need to upgrade your JDK before you can upgrade to Confluence 3.3.

If you are running the Confluence EAR-WAR edition against your own application server, you will need to check with your application server vendor about which JDK versions are supported.

I am a Confluence Plugin/Extension Developer

Plugin developers who want their plugins to work on Confluence 3.2 and earlier should continue to compile their plugins with the Java 5 compiler. Plugin developers specifically targeting Confluence 3.3 and later should use the Java 6 compiler and Java 6 language features.

Why Now?

 

Our policy for JDK support is to follow Sun's (now Oracle's) Java Technology End-of-Life policy. Java 5 reached its end of service life (EOSL) on October 2009. The cost of supporting an old Java version, particularly one that is no longer supported by Oracle, is not trivial. By ending support for Java 5, we will be able to significantly increase Confluence development speed.

Document generated by Confluence on Sep 19, 2011 02:49