Java version should be checked when starting /usr/bin/jitsi

[deragon]

/usr/bin/jitsi as the following line javabin=which java`` which grabs the default Java. Jitsi seams to only work with Java 8, which is getting old. I have many versions of Java installed and Java 8 is not my default version under my Linux Ubuntu 19.10 working laptop. I am probably not the only one with such a setup. The first time I started Jitsi, it failed with multiple errors because it was started with Java 10.

/usr/bin/jitsi should check the java version (java --version) and if it is not supported, print out an error message explaining exactly what the problem is, what variables or how the path should be set, and exit.

There are other solutions to fix this such as adding the proper Java package as a dependency on the *.deb packages, but that is more work. I suggest a quick solution, a quick fix to at least help out newbies identify the problem quickly. Better implement my suggestion and open a new ticket for a more robust, sophisticated solution.

[gianlucapettinello]

Do you think it is possible to port Jitsi to java 14?

[ibauersachs]

I won't bother for non-LTS versions, but the new build I'm working on in the branch new-gradle-build will support Java 11.

[deragon]

Greetings @ibauersachs. Why not bother for non-LTS versions? What additional trouble does it causes you? I am the author of Autopoweroff and I never had issues specific to non-LTS versions.

[ibauersachs]

Maintenance burden. I'm struggling enough as it is to keep anything running here. And if it runs on Java 11 it runs on Java 14 too.

[izzy]

@ibauersachs is there anything to help you porting it to Java 11? I'm not a Java dev but I'd very much like to see Jitsi ported to something that's supported beyond the end of this year. :)

[ibauersachs]

@izzy See my comment from May 24. I didn't do any Java 11 work on that branch yet, so any PR working towards it will help.

[toptnc]

Actually, 2.11 works better on java 11 than java 8.

I'm running jitsi 2.11 with java 11 because with java 8 crashes when I activate Appindicator icon.

[jose1711]

I can confirm 2.11 (or latest nightly in my case) works fine on my Arch Linux and Ubuntu notebook with openjdk 14 and openjdk 11 respectively. Maybe creating a new Debian package for 2.11 would solve this?