Interest is growing around the possibility of reintegrating JavaFX into the Java Development Kit (JDK), as discussions in the OpenJDK community gain momentum. Oracle has also expressed interest in making JavaFX more accessible within the JDK, acknowledging its ongoing relevance for developers building rich client applications. JavaFX was originally removed from the JDK with Java 11 over seven years ago, leaving developers to manage it separately.
Bruce Haddon, in an October 29 post on an OpenJDK discussion list, argued that the initial reasons for separating JavaFX—such as JDK bloat, the ability for JavaFX and the JDK to evolve independently, and the shift of JavaFX development from Oracle to Gluon—are no longer as relevant. Haddon points out that modularization has reduced JDK bloat, that JavaFX and the JDK have remained largely in sync, and that both projects now thrive in open source environments (OpenJDK and OpenJFX), allowing community contributions without hindering innovation.
Haddon further emphasized developer convenience, noting the challenges of maintaining two separate installations and configuring IDEs to work with both the JDK and JavaFX. According to him, reintegration would streamline development workflows and simplify IDE configuration. He concluded that the time may be right to reintegrate JavaFX as the preferred GUI framework within the JDK.
Responding to inquiries, Oracle’s Donald Smith, vice president of Java product management, stated on October 30 that while no concrete plans have been announced, the company is exploring ways to make JavaFX more approachable within the JDK. Launched in 2007 by Sun Microsystems, JavaFX continues as an open source platform for building rich client applications across desktop, mobile, and embedded systems, with releases for Linux, macOS, and Windows available through Gluon.