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Add N&N entry for Multi-Release JAR compilation support in JDT 4.38#425

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laeubi merged 2 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/add-multi-release-jar-support
Oct 18, 2025
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Add N&N entry for Multi-Release JAR compilation support in JDT 4.38#425
laeubi merged 2 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/add-multi-release-jar-support

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Copilot AI commented Oct 18, 2025

This PR adds a comprehensive New and Noteworthy entry for the Eclipse JDT 4.38 release, documenting the new Multi-Release JAR compilation support feature.

Overview

JDT now provides native support for compiling Multi-Release JARs, allowing developers to maintain multiple versions of the same class compiled for different Java releases within a single project. This implementation follows the "Pattern 3: Single Project" approach and significantly simplifies the development workflow for libraries that need to support multiple Java versions.

Changes

Documentation Added

  • N&N Entry: Added detailed entry in the Java Compiler section of news/4.38/jdt.md
  • Screenshot: Included UI configuration dialog screenshot (multi-release-jar-config.png)

Entry Contents

The N&N entry covers:

  • Introduction to Multi-Release JARs with reference to JEP 238
  • Description of how JDT now supports native multi-release compilation
  • Explanation of the Pattern 3: Single Project approach from the Maven Compiler Plugin documentation
  • UI configuration instructions with screenshot
  • Key capabilities:
    • Edit and compile Multi-Release Types simultaneously across different Java versions
    • Run Multi-Release compiled projects directly from the IDE
    • Automatic m2eclipse integration for maven-compiler-plugin executions
  • Call for community feedback and testing

References Included

The entry properly references all related work:

Contributors

The entry credits:

Compliance

This entry follows all N&N guidelines from instructions.md:

  • Title in title case
  • Active voice for better user engagement
  • Backticks for UI elements and commands
  • Screenshot with descriptive label
  • PR/issue references included as HTML comments
  • External documentation links provided
  • Proper markdown formatting
Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Add a N&N entry for Eclipse JDT to promote the support of multi-release jar compilation</issue_title>
<issue_description>It should cover the topic of Native Multi Release Compilation support in JDT:

JDT now supports compilation of "Multi-Release-Types", that is the same class exits in different variants with the same name and can simultaneously be edited and compiled and automatically be placed in appropriate output folders.
It maps to an approach described as "Pattern 3: Single Project" described here https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/multirelease.html and as described in the "Challenges" section currently there is no good IDE support for that case, we solve this now by using the "highest" JDK and compile individual class files with the according release option.
The other patterns work, but they require a much more sophisticated setup in the IDEs and are usually not directly executable or requires a lot of custom configuration:

Now it becomes incredible simple when used with Eclipse IDE/JDT by just setting a simple option the classpath dialog of a source folder!

To promote this new feature we should write a good summary as a N&N entry;

<agent_instructions>We want to add a new N&N entry (see https://eclipse.dev/eclipse/markdown/?f=news/instructions.md for details) for the JDT project at the 4.38 release here: https://github.com/eclipse-platform/www.eclipse.org-eclipse/blob/master/news/4.38/jdt.md</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

Fixes #424


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Copilot AI self-assigned this Oct 18, 2025
Co-authored-by: laeubi <1331477+laeubi@users.noreply.github.com>
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Add N&N entry for Eclipse JDT multi-release jar compilation Add N&N entry for Multi-Release JAR compilation support in JDT 4.38 Oct 18, 2025
Copilot AI requested a review from laeubi October 18, 2025 15:33
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This looks like a quite good summary to me!

@laeubi laeubi marked this pull request as ready for review October 18, 2025 15:43
@laeubi laeubi merged commit 8d83f0e into master Oct 18, 2025
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@laeubi laeubi deleted the copilot/add-multi-release-jar-support branch October 18, 2025 15:44
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Add a N&N entry for Eclipse JDT to promote the support of multi-release jar compilation

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