Default-packaged java version 9.0.4 is not supported anymore

Wowza Streaming Engine
1

Hi,

I faced some difficulties while adding my plugin (built using java 9.0.4) to my Wowza Application.

Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 comes with Java 9.0.4 as it’s default java version as it needs Java 9 as minimum. my Wowza engine was hosted on an ubuntu 18.04 server, which does not support java 9.0.4 anymore. Thus my plugin was not able to work on the server side as Java 9.0.4 is not supported.

I solved this by removing all sub-directories inside ‘jre’ (which includes java 9), upgraded my server to java 11 and copied the content of java 11 into ‘jre’ directory in WowzaStreamingEngine directory again.

As java9 is not supported anymore since 2018, why does not Wowza upgraded the default java version into java 11 as it will be supported until 2026? this might reduce the time cost and simplisize the process of adding an adjusted java plugin to wowza applications?

looking forward for your suggestions as well.

kindly find below links providing information regarding what I have mentioned earlier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history

“We’ve repackaged the version of OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4 available with the release of Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 to address an issue that caused a memory leak in Wowza Streaming Engine Manager. To take advantage of this fix, use the custom packaged version of OpenJDK when upgrading to Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 or later.”

this was mentioned on wowza streaming engine 4.8.5 release notes:

https://www.wowza.com/docs/wowza-streaming-engine-4-8-5-release-notes

thanks for your cooperation,

regards,

Othman

2

Thanks for the feedback and I agree with you that the language in the notes is a bit confusing. Wowza Streaming Engine 4.8.5 is built on Java 9 (OpenJDK Java SE JRE 9.0.4) but it does support Java versions 9 - 12. Earlier versions of Java aren’t supported. You can adjust it to support anything from 9 to 12.

I will request we make this more clear in the release notes. Thank you again for the feedback.

Also, please know that as we were making critical adjustments in Engine to support the latest in WebRTC for those that needed an immediate solution during the covid pandemic and also to support Apple’s new LL-HLS spec (that has now changed), we were not able to get Java 11 out in the latest 4.8.5 Engine release where it was 100% compatible.

But, we WILL be releasing Java 11 in an Engine release in 2020.

3

Thanks for your answer. may I clarify one issue. If I have built my plugin in java 9 and I need to keep it built in java 9 , how may I add my plugin(java 9 build) to standard Wowza streaming engine (which released including java 9 )?

in this case my solution won’t work on the ubuntu 18.04 server, any suggestions?