Oracle makes Java 17 available and promises new lts releases every two years

Oracle has announced the availability of Java 17. This is a long-term support release with numerous changes and improvements. Upcoming lts releases will be available every two years instead of three.

Oracle talks about “thousands” of bug fixes and performance and stability improvements it made with version 17 of Java. In addition, there are fourteen JDK Enhancement Proposals, including improved interoperability with pseudo-random number generators and support for Apple’s macOS/AArch64 platform. The macOS/AArch64 port allows Java applications to run on Apple systems with an M-soc.

The previous lts release was Java 11, and 70 JDK Enhancement Proposals have been implemented since that release, Oracle said. The company announces that Oracle JDK 17 and future versions of the JDK will be available under a free-to-use license. It remains valid for one year after the subsequent lts release. The Oracle OpenJDK releases will continue to be available under a GPL, the license that those releases have been under since 2017.

Users can expect security updates and bug fixes for Oracle JDK 17 through September 2029. The next lts release is Java 21, which will be released in September 2023. As a result, Oracle no longer releases lts releases for Java every three years, but every two years. New Java releases appear every six months.