Review versions of software being used

[shanedell]

This task is for reviewing the version of software we are using. Meaning we should check if we update versions of node, java, vscode, scala, etc.

I believe Apache Daffodil 4.0.0 and later drops support for Java 8 and 11, should we also drop support for these versions? @stevedlawrence Would this be something we can do or do we still technically need to support 8 & 11 since we support a 2.12 and 2.13 scala version of the debugger (for Apache Daffodil 3.10.0 & 3.11.0 respectively?)

[stevedlawrence]

I think the 2.12/2.13 debuggrrs should still will work on newer version of Java, so even if you say the minimum supported version is Java 17, users should still be able to use older versions of Daffodil. So I don't think you necessarily must keep 8/11 support just because of support for older daffodil versions.

Maybe one option is to drop official Java 8/11 support once you update the default daffodil version to 4.x, since that will mean a default install/configs will require Java 17.

[scholarsmate]

Could be just a documentation update, right?

[hdalsania]

I agree with Steve and Davin. Java version 17 is backward compatible with older version of Scala and there is no immediate need to drop support for Java 8 and 11. I am moving this issue out of v1.6.0 scope.