JDK 16 is in Rampdown Phase One

[Rory O'Donnell]

Hi Oleg,

Per the JDK 16 schedule , we are in Rampdown Phase One [1] .

Please advise if you find any issues while testing the latest Early Access builds.

• Schedule for JDK 16
• 2020/12/10 Rampdown Phase One
• 2021/01/14  Rampdown Phase Two
• 2021/02/04  Initial Release Candidate
  
• 2021/02/18  Final Release Candidate
• 2021/03/16  General Availability
• Release Notes [2]

OpenJDK 16 Early Access build 28 is now available at http://jdk.java.net/16

• Features - the overall feature set is frozen. No further JEPs will be targeted to this release.
• Significant Integrations in b28:
• Integrated JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default
  
• Strongly encapsulate all internal elements of the JDK by default, except for critical internal APIs such as sun.misc.Unsafe.
• Allow end users to choose the relaxed strong encapsulation that has been the default since JDK 9.
• Integrated JEP 397: Sealed Classes (Second Preview) with this release.
• Enhance the Java programming language with sealed classes and interfaces.
• Refines JEP 360 which was delivered in JDK 15 as a preview feature.

• These early-access , open-source builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
• Changes in recent builds that maybe of interest:
• Build 28
• JDK-8256299: JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default
• JDK-8166596: TLS support for the EdDSA signature algorithm 
• JDK-8256718: Old tracing flags are now obsolete and must be replaced with unified logging
• Build 27
• JDK-8159746: (proxy) Support for default methods
• JDK-8254631: Better support ALPN byte wire values in SunJSSE

Project Loom Early-Access: Build 16-loom+9-316 (2020/11/30) - based on JDK-16+25

• These early-access builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception
• These builds are intended for developers looking to "kick the tyres" and provide feedback on using the API or by sending bug reports.
• Please send feedback via e-mail to loom...@openjdk.java.net. To send e-mail to this address you must first subscribe to the mailing list.
  

Rgds, Rory

[1] https://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/jdk-dev/2020-December/004991.html

[2] https://jdk.java.net/16/release-notes