Oracle releases Java 21 as an LTS release with eight years of support

Oracle has released Java 21. This time the LTS release will receive eight years of support. JDK 21 not only contains stability and security updates, but also new features such as virtual threads and structured concurrency.

Oracle has made the Java Development Kit 21 widely available. This is a long-term release, but one that will receive longer support than average this time. Oracle normally releases a new version of Java every six months and an LTS release every two years. JDK 21 will receive eight years of support. All release notes can be found here.

The new version of the popular programming language contains several major improvements. Fifteen of these have received a JDK Enhancement Proposal. One of the improvements in the language is the addition of an API for structured concurrency. This combines and handles different tasks running on different threads. A new API has also been added for key encapsulation. This allows symmetric encryption keys to be secured via algorithms such as RSA-KEM. Also there are virtual threads added to the language to make it easier to update high-throughput applications.

Furthermore, there is a preview in the language for classes that do not yet have a name. Support for the Windows 32bit x86 port has also been removed. In the future, this should disappear completely from the JDK.