Milestones

The JDK 8 development schedule was divided into a sequence ofmilestone cycles, most six to eight weeks in length, with buildsoccuring roughly once each week. There were no formal beta orearly-access releases. Major features and otherpotentially-destabilizing changes were targeted for integrationearly in a specific milestone.

Here is the milestone schedule, with thefeatures integrated in each cycle:

M1	2012/04/26	(b36)
117 Remove theAnnotation-Processing Tool (apt)
M2	2012/06/14	(b43)
M3	2012/08/02	(b50)
124 Enhance the CertificateRevocation-Checking API
130 SHA-224 MessageDigests
131 PKCS#11 Crypto Provider for64-bit Windows
M4	2012/09/13	(b56)
112 Charset ImplementationImprovements
129 NSA Suite B CryptographicAlgorithms
M5	2012/11/29	(b66)
105 DocTree API
106 Add Javadoc tojavax.tools
113 MS-SFU Kerberos 5Extensions
114 TLS Server Name Indication(SNI) Extension
121 Stronger Algorithms forPassword-Based Encryption
122 Remove the PermanentGeneration
127 Improve Locale DataPackaging and Adopt Unicode CLDR Data
128 BCP 47 LocaleMatching
133 Unicode 6.2
136 Enhanced VerificationErrors
153 Launch JavaFXApplications
177 Optimizejava.text.DecimalFormat.format
M6	2013/01/31	(b75)
103 Parallel ArraySorting
135 Base64 Encoding &Decoding
138 Autoconf-Based BuildSystem
139 Enhance javac to ImproveBuild Speed
142 Reduce Cache Contention onSpecified Fields
147 Reduce Class MetadataFootprint
148 Small VM
149 Reduce Core-Library MemoryUsage
150 Date & Time API
160 Lambda-Form Representationfor Method Handles
164 Leverage CPU Instructionsfor AES Cryptography
166 Overhaul JKS-JCEKS-PKCS12Keystores
170 JDBC 4.2
172 DocLint
173 Retire Some Rarely-Used GCCombinations
M7	2013/06/13	(b94)	FeatureComplete
101 Generalized Target-TypeInference
104 Annotations on JavaTypes
107 Bulk Data Operations forCollections
109 Enhance Core Libraries withLambda
115 AEAD CipherSuites
118 Access to Parameter Names atRuntime
119 javax.lang.modelImplementation Backed by Core Reflection
120 RepeatingAnnotations
123 Configurable SecureRandom-Number Generation
126 Lambda Expressions &Virtual Extension Methods
140 LimiteddoPrivileged
155 Concurrency Updates
161 Compact Profiles
162 Prepare forModularization
171 Fence Intrinsics
174 Nashorn JavaScriptEngine
176 Mechanical Checking ofCaller-Sensitive Methods
178 Statically-Linked JNILibraries
179 Document JDK API Support andStability
180 Handle Frequent HashMapCollisions with Balanced Trees
184 HTTP URLPermissions
185 Restrict Fetching ofExternal XML Resources
	2013/07/18		Rampdownstart
M8	2013/09/05	(b106)	DeveloperPreview
	2013/09/12		All Tests Run
	2013/10/10		API/InterfaceFreeze
	2013/10/24		Zero BugBounce
	2013/11/21		Rampdown phase2
M9	2014/01/23		FinalRelease Candidate
GA	2014/03/18		GeneralAvailability

Milestone definitions

The early development milestones (M1–M6) were date-driven;they came and went regardless of the state of the release. Mostlater milestones are condition-driven; we intended to reach thegoal of the milestone by the given date, but if we didn't then wedeclared the milestone at a later date and adjusted any followingmilestones as necessary. Here are definitions of the latermilestones, in the order in which they occur:

• Feature Complete — All features have beenimplemented and integrated into the master forest, together withunit tests.

• Developer Preview — Areasonably stable build suitable for broad testing by the developercommunity is published. This build will include all plannedfeatures unless otherwise stated.

• All Tests Run — All plannedtests have been run, at least once, on all supported platforms.

• Rampdown — Phases in whichincreasing levels of scrutiny are applied to incoming changes. Inphase 1, only P1-P3 bugs can be fixed. In phase 2 only showstopperbugs can be fixed.

• API/Interface Freeze —After this point APIs and other interfaces, including those definedin component JSRs, can be changed only in order to fix showstopperbugs.

• Zero Bug Bounce (ZBB) — Thebug backlog is completely addressed. No open bug with a fixtargeted to the release is older than 24 hours, and other bugs havebeen deferred to a future release.

• Final Release Candidate— The date by which the final release candidate must bedeclared and submitted for testing. One or more release candidateswill be declared after the planned ZBB date; if another isnecessary after this milestone then the GA date will be atrisk.

• General Availability —Final release, ready for production use.