What version of Java should plugins be built for?

Is it still Java 5? 6? 7/8? Thanks guys.

 

tips48 http://wiki.bukkit.org/Setting_Up_Your_Workspace This says use Java 6 (since people are still on that version, slowpokes )
I'd use Java 6, as it'll cover most people

 

Thanks, appreciate it.

 

xTigerRebornx tips48
Really? I thought almost everybody used Java 7, and the changes between 6 and 7 don't significantly affect Bukkit API (If I recall, it was mostly swing, IO, networking and security ... in programming language itself, most significantly introduction of strings in switch statements, try-with-resources and improvements with exception catching and generic instance creation with type inferences). So basically, I guess either one is safe. Java 5 is outdated and Java 8 is too new, barely anybody uses it in the Minecraft world.

 

I compile all plugins in 1.6.

 

AoH_Ruthless Its not that the API is affected by changes, its that servers may be running 6 and therefor cannot support a plugin with features from 7

 

I think java 7 is suffice. If people are still on java 6 then they should be forced to update.. like really java 8 is already out and people wont even go to 7.

 

I personally use Java 7, and for all the plugins I have made for people in the past, None have been running java 6, so it's more or less pretty safe to work with 7.

 

tips48
Java 7. I don't care if the server owner complains, take that to bukkit help, or update java.

 

I use Java 7.

 

7 or 8

some server owners uses old java, you should ignore such "bug" reports or reply with "update JRE"

 

When I'm working directly with someone or it's not a public release, I'll go with Java 8.

Publicly released plugins can usually get away with Java 7, if you look at mcstats for the distribution of java versions, you can see what you'll be cutting out by not using Java 6: http://mcstats.org/global/

Though this varies quite a bit, for instance one of my plugins has only 4 people using Java 6: http://mcstats.org/plugin/PlayTime