What exactly is a build number?

[tushev]

I have questions about build number - 11.0.8 +10 :

1. What exactly is a build number? What changes in between builds?

2. As far as I understand, if something significant changes, then minor or security version is being changed. So I suppose that the build number is safe to ignore - is this correct?

[aahlenst]

Commits are being added by OpenJDK between build numbers. But once released (ga tag), it is unusual for this number to be increased. Normally, the patch segment (8 in the sample you provided) is increased. Still, it seems a bit dangerous to ignore the build number.

[tushev]

Thanks! I mean, is it safe for an end-user to update only when some greater number (i.e. security) changes? So it is not necessary to update, say from 11.0.8+10 to 11.0.8+11 if this happens for some reason?

[aahlenst]

If this happens and reaches the end user, then they should update. It isn't cosmetic stuff that would be changed at that stage.

[tushev]

OK.

Is there a way to get build from, say, release file or you have to run java -version and parse it?

[aahlenst]

It's in the registry. See your old post: #155 (comment). There it says 11.0.8.10 which is 11.0.8+10.

[tushev]

Thanks! My goal is to robustly detect version not only for MSI's, but for ZIP-extracted instances as well.

I think I will then stick to registry, and use java -version for installations that are absent in the registry (although executing a shell command is much slower than parsing release file).

[aahlenst]

It's gross to parse that over and over again. As you can see in https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk15-binaries/releases/tag/jdk15u-2020-08-14-15-52, there are JSON files next to each package with metadata. What about opening an issue in https://github.com/AdoptOpenJDK/openjdk-build that we place more info in the tarballs themselves? Do you have a release file handy? I don't remember what's in it.

[tushev]

These files vary from version to version. In case of 11 branch, they look like:
release.txt

I think it will be a good idea to add more info in it.

[aahlenst]

I think the question was answered.