I'm sure this question has been posted but I've not found anydefinitive answer.I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux systemrunning Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system forunderlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hardbut I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by theversion I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rethingabout going to the latest 1.6. It seems every version change hadproblems in the beginning and I didn't even try 1.6 because of that.Now I'm thinking about it again.Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latestjdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versusthe last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as testedas the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that someof that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.Can I get opinions? Any input is greatly appreciated.

James Kimble wrote:
> I'm sure this question has been posted but I've not found any
> definitive answer.
> 
> I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux system
> running Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system for
> underlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hard
> but I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by the
> version I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rething
> about going to the latest 1.6.

Daylight Saving Time is handled just fine by J6. No one has ever claimed 
otherwise. What gave you the impression that it's not?

Older versions of J5 and up through 1.4 require a simple downloaded fix from 
Sun to handle DST. Since the current version of J5 is something like 1.5.0_11 
it looks like your version actually predates the DST fix so, ironically, you 
are at greater risk for not having upgraded to 6.

Bear in mind that J1.4 is the old, creaky, hoary, nearly obsolescent version. 
J6 is the current release. J5 has been out about two and a half years, now.

> It seems every version change had problems in the beginning and I didn't even try 1.6 because of that.
> Now I'm thinking about it again.

There have been bugs reported in 6, some of which carried over from 5, but for 
the most part it works as advertised. Have you been checking Sun's bug list to 
see if the issues affect your situation?

It's hardly the "beginning" for J5 any more.

> Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latest
> jdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versus
> the last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as tested
> as the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that some
> of that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.

Ooh, I don't know about all that. Sun's own tests are pretty durned 
exhaustive, and 6 has been through quite the beta process. Why don'tcha mosey 
on over to their bugs and RFE place if you want to know what issues you might 
face?

<http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/index.jsp>

Perhaps in there you'll find enough data to judge.

-- Lew

On Mar 18, 8:26 pm, Lew <l...@nospam.lewscanon.com> wrote:> James Kimble wrote:> > I'm sure this question has been posted but I've not found any> > definitive answer.>> > I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux system> > running Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system for> > underlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hard> > but I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by the> > version I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rething> > about going to the latest 1.6.I have read that 1.6 (from sun java blog) has preatty impresiveimprovements in GUI laying performance (over 1.5), but I dont know itthese improvements will affect your progams. So if performance is afactor (or likely will be) you ought to consider that.

James Kimble wrote:
> I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux system
> running Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system for
> underlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hard
> but I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by the
> version I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rething
> about going to the latest 1.6. It seems every version change had
> problems in the beginning and I didn't even try 1.6 because of that.
> Now I'm thinking about it again.

Older versions of J5 and versions 1.4 and earlier require a simple downloaded 
fix from Sun to handle DST.  You might consider using the released version of 
J5, which already has the fix, instead of the beta version.

> Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latest
> jdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versus
> the last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as tested
> as the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that some
> of that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.

If you are concerned about version stability, why are you using a beta of J5?

Bear in mind that J1.4 is the old, creaky, hoary, nearly obsolescent version. 
J6 is the current release. J5 has been out about two and a half years, now.

 > It seems every version change had problems in the beginning and I didn't 
even try 1.6 because of that.
 > Now I'm thinking about it again.

There have been bugs reported in 6, some of which carried over from 5, but for 
the most part it works as advertised. Have you been checking Sun's bug list to 
see if the issues affect your situation?

It's hardly the "beginning" for J5 any more.

 > Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latest
 > jdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versus
 > the last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as tested
 > as the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that some
 > of that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.

Ooh, I don't know about all that. Sun's own tests are pretty durned 
exhaustive, and 6 has been through quite the beta process. Why don'tcha mosey 
on over to their bugs and RFE place if you want to know what issues you might 
face?

<http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/index.jsp>

Perhaps in there you'll find enough data to judge.

-- Lew

James Kimble wrote:> I'm sure this question has been posted but I've not found any> definitive answer.> > I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux system> running Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system for> underlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hard> but I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by the> version I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rethingOlder versions of J5 and versions 1.4 and earlier require a simple downloaded fix from Sun to handle DST.> about going to the latest 1.6. It seems every version change had> problems in the beginning and I didn't even try 1.6 because of that.> Now I'm thinking about it again.It's hardly the "beginning" for J5 any more.Bear in mind that J6 is the current release. J5 has been out about two and a half years, now. J1.4 is the old, creaky, hoary, nearly obsolescent version.There have been bugs reported in 6, some of which carried over from 5, but for the most part it works as advertised. Have you been checking Sun's bug list to see if the issues affect your situation?> Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latest> jdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versus> the last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as tested> as the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that some> of that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.Ooh, I don't know about all that. Sun's own tests are pretty durned exhaustive, and 6 has been through quite the beta process. Why don'tcha mosey on over to their bugs and RFE place if you want to know what issues you might face?<http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/index.jsp>Perhaps in there you'll find enough data to judge.-- Lew

On Mar 18, 3:19 pm, Lew <l...@nospam.lewscanon.com> wrote:> James Kimble wrote:> > I'm sure this question has been posted but I've not found any> > definitive answer.>> > I maintain a product line that consists of a dedicated Linux system> > running Java to provide a GUI interface as a control system for> > underlying hardware. I've been working to move to jdk 1.5 (not hard> > but I'm busy) and now this new DST thing which is not covered by the> > version I've been porting to (1.5.0-b64) makes me want to rething>> Older versions of J5 and versions 1.4 and earlier require a simple downloaded> fix from Sun to handle DST.>> > about going to the latest 1.6. It seems every version change had> > problems in the beginning and I didn't even try 1.6 because of that.> > Now I'm thinking about it again.>> It's hardly the "beginning" for J5 any more.>> Bear in mind that J6 is the current release. J5 has been out about two and a> half years, now. J1.4 is the old, creaky, hoary, nearly obsolescent version.>> There have been bugs reported in 6, some of which carried over from 5, but for> the most part it works as advertised. Have you been checking Sun's bug list to> see if the issues affect your situation?>> > Can anyone give me a level of comfort about just going to the latest> > jdk and jre? Is there an advantage to going to the latest 1.6 versus> > the last 1.5? The liability of 1.6 is, of course, it's not as tested> > as the previous releases but, as java has matured, I think that some> > of that may be pretty minimal. I don't have enough data to judge.>> Ooh, I don't know about all that. Sun's own tests are pretty durned> exhaustive, and 6 has been through quite the beta process. Why don'tcha mosey> on over to their bugs and RFE place if you want to know what issues you might> face?>> <http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/index.jsp>>> Perhaps in there you'll find enough data to judge.>> -- LewIn reviewing the bug list (should have done that first) I think 1.6 isthe way to go. I don't see anything that will be negative and a greatdeal that will be positive. Thanks for the insight.--jk

On Mar 19, 5:27 am, "James Kimble" <jkim...@one.net> wrote:> I'm sure this question has been posted ......that's not surprising, given you posted it.Please refrain from multi-posting in future.<http://www.physci.org/codes/javafaq.html#xpost>(Note X-post to c.l.j.p./g., w/ f-u to c.l.j.p. only)Andrew T.

On Mar 19, 10:12 am, "James Kimble" <jkim...@one.net> wrote:...me an email.  Please note the 'Quote'.<http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?enc_user=7mTjyhYAAADCSWBnolz9mAH1YeBMyEJTo4cocwWvDVg2RHsu8f1bCg>Andrew T.