Problem with JRE compatibility using Eclipse

Maverickk · **Problem with JRE compatibility using Eclipse -** 12-03-2008, 12:25 AM

Hi,

I wrote code using Eclipse IDE . My system has Java 1.6 installed but the required code needed to run on JRE 1.5 machines also so I set the compliance level to JDK 1.5 in the Eclipse IDE. My knowledge was that even if my machine has JDK 1.6 installed,if I set the compliance level to JDK 1.5 in the Eclipse,my code will comply with the Java 1.5 APIs and run fine on JRE 1.6 as well as JRE 1.6. But after development,my tool went to customer sites and I have come to know that it is not running on machines with JRE 1.5. Can anybody tell me what went wrong?Please correct me if my knowledge was wrong.Have I followed wrong procedure?Please explain in detail as I am new to java.

jwenting · 12-03-2008, 05:56 AM

compiler compliance level doesn't mean it will generate classfiles that will work on that version of the JRE.
You may need to set another option ("generated class file compatibility) to get that.

Better yet, compile using a Sun 1.5 JDK rather than relying on the Eclipse compiler which has several known compatibility problems with Sun JREs which, though rare, can come back to bite you in some cases.