By using the source and target version configuration of maven-compiler-plugin we have no way to control the usage of Java 11 specific API. The compilation will still work but the code will fail at runtime when the jar is used with Java 8.
Until Java 8, the only way to cross compile was to use source and target versions but these configuration params do not check the compatibility of the API against the specified Java version.
Starting with Java 9 we have a stricter configuration when we are cross compiling. Earlier we were using JDK 8 for compiling but since now we are using JDK 11 it is better to add this release tag to ensure Java 8 compatibility in the released jar.
Description
By using the source and target version configuration of maven-compiler-plugin we have no way to control the usage of Java 11 specific API. The compilation will still work but the code will fail at runtime when the jar is used with Java 8.
Until Java 8, the only way to cross compile was to use source and target versions but these configuration params do not check the compatibility of the API against the specified Java version. Starting with Java 9 we have a stricter configuration when we are cross compiling. Earlier we were using JDK 8 for compiling but since now we are using JDK 11 it is better to add this release tag to ensure Java 8 compatibility in the released jar.
Refer this link for more details: https://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-compiler-plugin/examples/set-compiler-release.html
Related Issue
GH-204
Types of changes
Checklist: