Problem loading a Java agent meant for Java versions higher than 52 (Java 8) into a JNLP applet launched with OpenWebStart

[dtheobald]

There's an issue with loading a Java agent meant for Java versions higher than 52 (Java 8) into a JNLP applet launched with OpenWebStart. Setting the -javaagent:<agent-jar> option through the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable tries to load the agent, but the problem is that the Java 8 bootstrap JVM (icedtea-web) used by OpenWebStart also attempts to load the agent. This cause the following incompatibility error:

Picked up JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: "-javaagent:<agent-jar>" 
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: <agent-premain-class> has been compiled by a more recent version of the Java Runtime (class file version 55.0), this version of the Java Runtime only recognizes class file versions up to 52.0
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(ClassLoader.java:756)
    at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(SecureClassLoader.java:142)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(URLClassLoader.java:473)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(URLClassLoader.java:74)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:369)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:363)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:362)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:418)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:352)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:351)
    at sun.instrument.InstrumentationImpl.loadClassAndStartAgent(InstrumentationImpl.java:304)
    at sun.instrument.InstrumentationImpl.loadClassAndCallPremain(InstrumentationImpl.java:401)
FATAL ERROR in native method: processing of -javaagent failed

[raleigh-rinehart]

We also are experiencing this issue.