CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javajvmproduction
Mark Petronic
Mark Petronic

Reputation: 1127

Should development and deployment versions of Java be identical if you can control both ends?

Is it best practice to develop and deploy on the EXACT same JRE/JDK versions (assuming you can control both ends)? Say you are running JDK 7_45 in production but have 7_51 you your development box. Is that potentially problematic - in your experience? I'm guessing the best practice would be to have them match but just wondering how problematic it could be assuming you are at least using the same major release. I suppose this also goes towards backward compatibility of JVM minor release versions. In the typical user space, I could be running Java apps built over time using many different Java development version JVMs yet all 'should' be expected to run on any JVM version. Would have to 'expect' that since I cannot obviously control the user's installations. My question is more related to the fact that I AM able to control both ends (dev and prod) so would it be wise to use the same JVM/JDK versions? Seems like the obvious answer is YES - use the same versions - if you can.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 277

Answers (1)

Adam
Adam

Reputation: 2570

Generally, developers tend to have the latest version of the JRE/JDK installed on their development environments (Windows/Linux/OSX). This is fine, as long as you ensure that the program will run on older versions as well. So, you can develop on one version and use different version on production, as long as you extensively bug test with the older version to allow for backwards compatibility, or specifically state you are requiring a newer version of Java than is available on the user's system.

Upvotes: 1

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