When I tried running DrJava with OpenJDK8 on Windows 10, it did not work as well as I had expected.  The primary problem is that DrJava cannot find the tools.jar file (containing javac, the Java compiler) in the OpenJDK8 installation.  I used the Azul Systems packaging of the 64 bit OpenJDK8 which puts the installation file tree in C:Program Files/Zulu, a location that DrJava does not currently inspect.  I tried a quick hack on the DrJava code base to look in this location, but something is going wrong that will take me time to debug.  Since I removed Oracle JDK8 when I installed OpenJDK8, DrJava could not find a compiler and defaulted to an old Eclipse open source compiler that we bundle in the drjava.jar file.  For some reason, the Eclipse compiler thinks it is compiling Java 6 source and flags errors if Java 7 features are used in source code.  I also tried a quick fix for this problem but it did not work.  I updated the Eclipse batch compiler to a Java 8 version (ecj-4.6.3) but the newer compiler still thinks it is compiling Java 6 source code for reasons I have yet to determine.  I am going on a family vacation tomorrow for about a week but I will dig more deeply into DrJava internals to fix these problems after I get back.  In the meantime, I uploaded a new build of DrJava to www.cs.rice.edu/~javaplt/drjavarice which includes the newer Eclipse compiler but it still thinks it is supposed to compile Java 6 source code so it does not appear to work any better than the current release from drjava.org.  I will fix these problems and release a new OpenJDK8 compatible release after I get back.  It should be working by late July, which I hope is soon enough for teachers planning to use DrJava next school year. 

On Fri, Jul 5, 2019 at 5:25 PM Sal Iacono <icons@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:

[support-requests:#352] OpenJDK and DrJava

Status: open
Group: v1.0 (example)
Created: Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:25 PM UTC by Sal Iacono
Last Updated: Fri Jul 05, 2019 10:25 PM UTC
Owner: nobody

I'm just wondering if there is any plan to update DrJava to support OpenJDK and OpenJRE given that Oracle is changing their licencing. The IT department for my school board says we can no longer using OracleJDK/JRE due to these licencing changes.

I have been teaching Java using DrJava for some time now and would like to continue to do so as I really prefer its simple interface for beginners.

I have attempted to use open versions of JDK and JRE with DrJava (on both 64bit Win7 and Win10) and so far with only limited success. I uninstalled all Oracle JDK and JRE from system and then installed the OpenJDK that inlcudes the OpenJRE. Specfically, I installed the version 8 OpenJDK. However DrJava won't open and simply provides an error saying it needs at least JRE1.5 installed and then popping open java.com in the browser. I have tried changing system variable paths but nothing seems to allow DrJava to find the OpenJRE.

If I install Oracle JRE from java.com then DrJava will start working. Interestingly when it does finally run like that, the compiler tab is reporting that it is using OpenJDK7-7.5 even though I have installed OpenJDK8. Regardless, so far all testsin DrJava with the OpenJDK8 + OracleJRE seem to working fine.

It would be good to have one easy solution to install and use DrJava this coming september not just at school but to be able to provide simple directions to my students on installing and using DrJava for home use.

Hope to hear back soon.

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