Initial changes by Microsoft’s Java Engineering Group and Red Hat will be upstreamed to the OpenJDK project
Microsoft’s Java Engineering Group has reported progress in porting OpenJDK, or open source Java, to Windows 10 on ARM64-based devices, having completed the first phase of the initiative in late June. The company’s initial changes are being upstreamed to the OpenJDK project itself.
The port has been submitted to OpenJDK in partnership with Red Hat. An early access binary is available via GitHub. Microsoft said it has seen increased adoption of ARM64 on laptops and servers, with the architecture offering higher energy efficiency in data centers and battery life extension on personal devices.
While not yet feature-complete, the port is based on the OpenJDK tip branch and can run reference workloads including SPEC SERT and the SPEC Java suites. Developers can start building with Java on Windows 10 ARM64-compatible laptops, with core Java extensions in Visual Studio Code for ARM64, along with tools such as Apache Maven and Gradle.
Microsoft’s OpenJDK porting effort has been driven in part by its 2019 acquisition of jClarity. The acquisition prompted the formation of the Java Engineering Group in the company’s Developer Division. Also announcing ARM news recently was Microsoft rival Apple, with plans to make its own CPUs for Macs based on the ARM instruction set, a move lauded by Linux creator Linus Torvalds.
This porting effort represents a significant step in broadening the availability and compatibility of Java on newer hardware platforms. By leveraging the ARM architecture, Microsoft aims to provide a more efficient and robust Java runtime environment for developers working on ARM64 devices.
The collaboration between Microsoft and Red Hat also highlights the ongoing commitment of major tech companies to support and advance the OpenJDK project. This partnership ensures that the changes and improvements made will benefit the wider Java community and contribute to the overall growth and adoption of Java on diverse platforms.