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  • Feb 28, 2018
  • Post Nº 46

Java 9 Migration

Java 9 migration for Maven project. It consists Java 9 installation, IDE update, Maven project update, CI update, and fixing tests. This article is written using macOS and IntelliJ IDEA.

Today, I’d like to talk about Java 9 migration for Maven project. It consists Java 9 installation, IDE update, Maven project update, CI update and fixing tests. I’m using macOS and IntelliJ IDEA. Perhaps some of the content will not fit your situation. Please be ware of the diffretence. Now, let’s get started.

Install Java 9

  • Download JDK 9 from Java SE Development Kit 9 Downloads
  • Install JDK 9

  • Ensure that Java verion is 9:

    $ java -version
java version "9.0.4"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 9.0.4+11)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 9.0.4+11, mixed mode)

  • Ensure that Java compiler version is 9:

    $ javac -version
javac 9.0.4

Update IDE

Ensure that your IDE is using the correct JDK. If you’re using IntelliJ IDEA, you should change the Project SDK:

  • Open Project Settings (⌘ + ;)
  • Click button New… in section Project SDK, choose JDK
  • IntelliJ should already point to the new JDK: JDK 9. Click Open
  • Click OK to save changes.

Now we’re done.

Update Maven Project

Maven Compiler Plugin

In pom.xml file, change the source and target value from 1.8 to 9 for Maven compiler plugin:

<properties>
  <maven.compiler.source>9</maven.compiler.source>
  <maven.compiler.target>9</maven.compiler.target>
</properties>

Maven Dependency Plugin

For Maven dependency plugin, only version 3.1.0+ supports Java 9 bytecode analysis. See MDEP-559 Java 9 bytecode cannot be parsed. As a result, you need to upgrade the version to ensure goals dependency:analyze and dependency:analyze-only can be executed correctly.

Update Travis CI

Change the JDK version in Travis CI configuration file .travis.yml to use the JDK 9:

jdk:
  - oraclejdk9

Fix Dependency Issues

The Java EE APIs are no longer contained on the default class path in Java SE 9. Some APIs like JAXB, Java Activation must be added as dependencies. Java 9 introduces the concepts of modules, and by default the java.se aggregate module is available on the class path (or rather, module path). As the name implies, the java.se aggregate module does not include the Java EE APIs that have been traditionally bundled with Java 6/7/8.

Add the following dependencies to Maven to resolve java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError:

<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
  <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
  <version>2.2.11</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
  <artifactId>jaxb-core</artifactId>
  <version>2.2.11</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
  <artifactId>jaxb-impl</artifactId>
  <version>2.2.11</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.activation</groupId>
  <artifactId>activation</artifactId>
  <version>1.1.1</version>
</dependency>

Conclusion

As you can see, updating to Java 9 is not an easy task to do. You need to handle quite a lot of things to make it works. My post is written based on the migration on my project “java-examples”. See mincong-h/java-examples@befc891. I ignored some tests too, because they’re failing and there’s no quick solution to fix them. These tests are principally related the mocking frameworks and byte-code manipulation.

References

Update 2018-05-10: Maven Dependency Plugin 3.1.0 supports Java 9.

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