JOGL version and latest MacOS with Java 8

Hi all.
I am quite new to JOGL, so I beg your pardon in advance for the basic questions.

First of all, a bit of background: I am developing an application which uses the VTK library (Visualization ToolKit by Kitware) in order to make some 3D rendering and processing.

In turn, VTK is able to use JOGL as one of the ways to allow direct VTK-based 3D rendering from Java applications.

My application needs to work both on Windows and on MacOS. While on Windows eventually I also have other rendering options (VTK is able to render directly through the JAWT interface on this platform, in addition to through JOGL), at the moment using JOGL is the only available option in order to make my VTK-based Java application work on MacOS.

On Windows, I am currently using VTK 8.2.0 with the latest update of Java 8. On Windows, I have already done some tests with VTK 8.2.0 + JOGL v2.3.2, and everything is working quite fine, except for some smaller issues.

So, I am now approaching the "effort" of building VTK 8.2.0 with JOGL bindings on MacOS.

Now the questions come:

1) My plan would be to start from the latest JOGL v2.4.0 RC (according to my search, it should be this one: https://jogamp.org/deployment/archive/rc/v2.4.0-rc-20200307/). Will this work correctly with the latest update of Java 8 (we are using JetBrain's implementation of OpenJDK) on latest MacOS 10.15.x (Catalina)? Or will I be forced to use a higher Java version for best compatibility?

2) Is an official release of JOGL 2.4.0 planned anytime soon?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Regards,

Marco Sambin

Hello

I advise you to use the latest release candidate and I don't see why it wouldn't work with a particular implementation of OpenJDK. I use both the OpenJDK JDK of my GNU Linux distribution and AdoptOpenJDK.

You're not forced to use a more recent version of Java but in my humble opinion, from a security perspective, don't plan to use Java 8 forever as OpenJDK 8 won't benefit of security fixes when the next LTS version is out (Java 17 due to September 2021).

Moreover, I don't advise the use of modified builds of OpenJDK because if their tiny changes were really interesting, they would be in OpenJDK itself (maybe I'm a bit naive on Oracle's role) and I don't encourage Java fragmentation.

Why don't you use VTK 9.0.0?

Best regards.

Dear Julien,

thank you for your message and comments, I really appreciate.

Regarding VTK, I am using v8.2.0 simply because it was the latest available official version when we started the development of our application, and it still is, as far as I understand.
However, if there are good reasons to use VTK 9.0.0 RC instead (for instance, if it may work better with the latest JOGL v1.4.0 RC), then we can very well consider switching to VTK v9.0.0 RC. Please let me know your comments and suggestions on this regard.

As far as Java version is concerned, I fully agree with the "vision" expressed in your message. The plan is to "temporarily" use Java 8 due to the fact we are using several software components which may require some time to make them fully compatible with Java 13 / 14. However, the plan is to switch to Java 13 / 14 in the near future. It's mainly a "release timing" issue.

Not the correct place to ask, I know, but do you happen to know if VTK 9.0.0 will work fine with Java 13 / 14? Asking just because you seem to be aware of VTK versions...

Also, from your comments below, I suppose the latest JOGL 1.4.0 RC will work fine with Java 13 / 14, correct?

Thanks again for your comments and best regards,

Marco Sambin

I used VTK a bit about ten years ago, I'm a bit rusty ;) I've looked at the source code, VTK 9 is still built with JOGL 2.3.2, you'll have to rebuild it from source if you want to use JOGL 2.4.0 RC. JOGL isn't mentioned in pom.xml.in, you'll have to look at the README file:
https://vtk.org/gitweb?p=VTK.git;a=blob;f=Wrapping/Java/README.txt;hb=HEAD

Yes JOGL 2.4.0 RC works fine with Java 14.

Yes, it is.