Convert our app from java version 6 to 5,

Question

Hi guys,

Is there any solution through which I can convert java'a higher application, created in netbeans IDE 6.5.1, into lower version of java version 5.

Answer 1

If you have the source code, which I assume you do, this might be easy or difficult depending on the code.

Java 6 made few language changes over Java 5. The only one that springs to mind is you can put @Override on implementations of an interface.

The bigger issue is whether you use any of the API differences, of which there are several. I think JDBC has some major differences, which you may or may not use.

These issues may be big or small. It's really hard to say without knowing anything about your app. Generally speaking though they should be small.

Otherwise you should mostly just be able to recompile it with a Java 5 compiler.

If you don't have the source code it's still doable but you just need to disassemble it first and fixing any issues may be tedious.

Answer 2

You can simply try to recompile it for Java 5. As no language-changes are made between version 5 and 6 you can only run into problems, if you use APIs added or enhanced with the version-upgrade.

Answer 3

If you have the source, you could use backported libraries and code rewrite. There is a tool called Retroweaver which can convert 1.5 code to 1.4, but I doubt It works for 6 to 5.

Answer 4

there is an option somewhere to tell Netbeans to generate GUI with non-Java 6 classes. It is documented somewhere, sorry I don't remember. I've already switched to Netbeans 6.7 (RC3).

Check also usages of Desktop API, @Override in implementing interface methods, etc.

It is a good practice to build with a JDK5 in a CI server (like hudson).