Prior to Java 9, the release numbers did not follow industry standard versioning--semantic versioning. For example, at the time of writing, the last four JDK releases were:
- JDK 8 update 131
- JDK 8 update 121
- JDK 8 update 112
Semantic versioning uses a major, minor, patch (0.0.0) schema:
Major equates to new API changes that are not backwards compatible.
Minor is when functionality is added that is backwards compatible.
Patch refers to bug fixes or minor changes that are backwards compatible.
Oracle has embraced semantic versioning for Java 9 and beyond. For Java, a major-minor-security schema will be used for the first three elements of Java version numbers:
- Major: A major release consisting of a significant ...
