The next version of JavaMail will be JavaMail 1.6, which will be coordinated
with the release of Java EE 8. This allows us to make (compatible) API changes
to JavaMail. The key change that's planned is the use of the @Repeatable
annotation on the @MailSessionDefinition annotation, to support the goals of
Java EE 8.
This means that JavaMail needs to be compiled with the JDK 8 definition
of @Repeatable. However, I'd also like JavaMail to continue to be
usable on JDK 7, and on versions of Android that don't support JDK 8
class files. (JDK 5 and JDK 6 are too old to continue supporting.)
My current plan is to require that JavaMail be compiled with JDK 8 but
use -source 1.7 -target 1.7. This is somewhat of a kludge, but is similar
to what I've done for previous releases. It depends on picking up the
definition of @Repeatable from the compiler's bootstrap class path, and
on the fact that unknown annotations are ignored, e.g., when running on
JDK 7 without @Repeatable. Let me know if you see a better approach.
Also, if any of you have experience with Android development, let me know.
Finally, now's the time to consider additional small JavaMail API changes
for JavaMail 1.6, so if you have good ideas or see missing APIs we could
add to make it easier to use JavaMail, I'd like to hear about them,
and/or file Jira entries describing what you want.
Thanks.