Post about Java 8 support

website_and_docs/content/blog/2023/java-8-support.md

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+---
+title: "Java 8 support in Selenium"
+linkTitle: "Java 8 support in Selenium"
+date: 2023-06-09
+tags: ["selenium", "java"]
+categories: ["releases"]
+author: Diego Molina ([@diegofmolina](https://twitter.com/diegofmolina))
+description: >
+   On September 30, 2023, Java 11 will be the minimum version supported by Selenium.
+---
+
+
+“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is a saying you may have heard, but sometimes 
+it’s necessary to move on from our old favorites. That’s why we’re announcing that
+**Selenium will stop supporting Java 8 on September 30, 2023**. This applies for
+both the Java bindings and the Selenium Grid.
+
+Selenium has long supported Java 8, but as technology evolves, so must we. One of 
+the primary reasons for this change is that Java 8 reached the end of active support 
+[over a year ago](https://endoflife.date/java). In addition, our default HTTP 
+Client has not had a major release in several years, and a
+[bug](https://github.com/SeleniumHQ/selenium/issues/9528) has been found that we can not fix.
+We have decided to move to [move to the native Java HTTP Client](blog/2022/using-java11-httpclient/),
+but it requires using Java 11 or greater. The sooner we make this change, the sooner 
+we can avoid dealing with this issue.
+
+Our new minimum version will be Java 11. September 30, 2023 is also the end of 
+active support for Java 11. However, we want to take a cautious and conservative path 
+forward, and not force our users to make the big jump from Java 8 to Java 17, as we 
+understand the community might need longer to move to that version. We will revisit 
+this topic in the future to announce the plan to support Java 17 as a minimum version.
+
+We understand that this change may require some of our users to make adjustments, but 
+we believe that it’s a necessary step for the continued growth of Selenium. Please 
+take some time to check your infrastructure and ensure you’re running on Java 11 or 
+higher. We understand that some may be hesitant or may find it difficult to make 
+the switch, but we believe it will pay off in the long run.
+
+Please let us know your questions, concerns, and feedback through our 
+[community chat](https://www.selenium.dev/support/#ChatRoom).
+
+Happy testing!