Per the JDK 16 schedule , we are in the Release Candidate Phase [1] .

Please advise if you find any issues while testing the latest Early Access builds.

• Schedule for JDK 16
• 2021/02/04  Initial Release Candidate
• 2021/02/18  Final Release Candidate
• 2021/03/16  General Availability
• Release Notes [2]

OpenJDK 16 Early Access build 35 is now available at http://jdk.java.net/16

• These early-access, open-source builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
• Features [3] - the overall feature set is frozen. No further JEPs will be targeted to this release.
• Changes in recent builds that maybe of interest:
• Build 34:
• JDK-8259025: Record compact constructor using Objects.requireNonNull
• Reported by JUnit5
• Build 32:
• JDK-8259014: Incomplete support for Unix domain sockets in Windows 2019 Server

• JDK 16 - topics of interest:
• Unix domain socket channels (JEP-380) overview:
  https://inside.java/2021/02/03/jep380-unix-domain-sockets-channels/
• Java Feature Spotlight: Pattern Matching
  https://inside.java/2021/01/22/feature-spotlight-pattern-matching/
• Foreign Memory Access - Pulling all the thread
  https://inside.java/2021/01/25/memory-access-pulling-all-the-threads/
• General – topic of interest:
• Inside Java Episode 11 “How to contribute to OpenJDK” with Stuart Marks and Jesper Wilhelmsson
  https://inside.java/2021/01/29/podcast-011/

• These early-access builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception
• EA builds are intended for developers looking to test and provide feedback on using Project Lanai.
• This is a macOS-specific project which implements a new Java 2D graphics rendering pipeline for macOS.
• Project Lanai Wiki: https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/lanai/Main
• Please send feedback via e-mail to lanai-dev@openjdk.java.net. To send e-mail to this address you must first subscribe to the mailing list.

• These early-access builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception
• These builds are intended for developers looking to "kick the tyres" and provide feedback on using the API or by sending bug reports.
• API Javadoc : https://download.java.net/java/early_access/loom/docs/api/
• Please send feedback via e-mail to loom-dev@openjdk.java.net. To send e-mail to this address you must first subscribe to the mailing list.

OpenJDK 17 Early Access build 8 is now available at http://jdk.java.net/17

• These early-access, open-source builds are provided under the GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
• Changes in recent builds that maybe of interest:
• Build 8:
• JDK-8222850: Misleading cascade compiler error in switch expression with undefined vars
• Reported by jOOQ.
• JDK-8217633: Configurable extensions with system properties
• JDK-8249867: DOM LSSerializer control of newline after XML header
• JDK-8256421: Added 2 HARICA Root CA Certificates
• JDK-8259801: Enable XML Signature secure validation mode by default
• Build 7:
• JDK-8165276: Spec states to invoke the premain method in an agent class if it's public but implementation differs
• JDK-8256895: Add support for RFC 8954: Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) Nonce Extension
• Build 6:
• JDK- 8259048: (tz) Upgrade time-zone data to tzdata2020f

January 2021 Critical Patch Update Released:

• As part of the Jan 2021 CPU we released JDK 15.0.2, JDK 11.0.10 LTS, JDK 8u281, and JDK 7u291 as well as OpenJDK 15.0.2 (publicly available).

Rgds, Rory

-- 
Rgds, Rory O'Donnell
Quality Engineering Manager
Oracle EMEA, Dublin, Ireland