This Specification defines version 15 of the Java Platform, Standard Edition (“Java SE 15”). The Reference Implementation of this Specification is the Java Development Kit, version 15 (“JDK 15”).

This release continues the evolution of the Platform to ensure the broadest possible success of the core Java technology. It standardizes text blocks, previews several other language features, introduces hidden classes, adds support for the Edwards-Curve Digital Signature Algorithm, and deprecates the RMI Activation mechanism.

This document directly specifies API features, enhancements, clarifications, and bug fixes. It also specifies features by reference to other Specifications which are revised in Maintenance Releases of existing JSRs. The specifications of these changes are contained in two accompanying documents: Annex 1 is the complete Java SE 15 API Specification and Annex 2 is an annotated API specification showing the exact differences relative to Java SE 14. Informative background for these changes may be found in the list of approved Compatibility & Specification Review (CSR) requests for this release.

This Specification includes the Java SE 15 Editions of The Java Language Specification and The Java Virtual Machine Specification in Annex 3. The Java SE 15 Editions contain all corrections and clarifications made since the Java SE 14 Editions, as well as additions for new features. Annex 3 also presents changes to The Java Language Specification and The Java Virtual Machine Specification in connection with preview features in Java SE 15.

This Specification includes the Java SE 15 versions of additional narrative specifications in Annexes 4 — 11. The Java SE 15 versions contain all corrections and clarifications made since the Java SE 14 versions, as well as additions for new features. The Java Object Serialization Specification in Annex 8 contains the most significant changes which were made in connection with preview features in Java SE 15.

Changes to the Java SE Platform Specification are categorized as either features or enhancements. A feature is, roughly speaking, a change of which at least one of the following statements is true:

• It requires two or more weeks of development effort to design and implement,
• It is a significant change worthy of wide review, or
• It is in high demand by the Java community.

Any addition that is not a feature is considered an enhancement.

There is, obviously, room for judgment when interpreting this definition. In order to maximize the visibility of Platform revisions we generally tend to consider borderline items to be features rather than enhancements.

Some Component JSR Specifications previously incorporated into the Platform are still available separately or have significant Specifications themselves. Changes to their Specifications are therefore made in separate Maintenance Releases, which are incorporated here by reference:

JSR 269:

Pluggable Annotation-Processing API [MR 9]

Each Component JSR Specification, or revision thereto, may be related to one or more features in the detailed list below.

Work on features in the Java SE 15 Reference Implementation is organized in terms of JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs). Each feature description gives a link to the corresponding JEP document as a convenience, but that document is not a normative part of this Specification. Some features are included in the Java SE 15 Reference Implementation on a preview basis, to gain exposure before achieving permanent status in a later release of the Java SE Platform.

Preview features A preview language or VM feature is a new feature of the Java SE Platform that is fully specified, fully implemented, and yet impermanent. This Specification incorporates the Java SE 12 Platform Specification (JSR 386), subsection Preview features by reference.

A module is a named set of packages designed for reuse. A specification governed by the JCP defines standard packages, and may group them into one or more standard modules.

This Specification groups the standard packages of the Java SE Platform into 21 standard modules, which we refer to as the Java SE modules. The name of a Java SE module always starts with the string "java.". The complete list of such modules is:

java.base java.compiler java.datatransfer java.desktop java.instrument java.logging java.management

java.management.rmi java.naming java.net.http java.prefs java.rmi java.scripting java.se (aggregator)

java.security.jgss java.security.sasl java.sql java.sql.rowset java.transaction.xa java.xml java.xml.crypto

Compared to Java SE 14, this Specification does not add or remove any modules.

The module graph The Java SE modules depend upon each other as stated in their specifications, which are part of the overall API Specification. The corresponding complete Java SE module graph has too many edges to be displayed easily in visual form; here is the transitive reduction of the directed acyclic graph, in which redundant edges are omitted (click to enlarge):

Here is how to read this visualization of the module graph:

• If one module depends upon another, and it grants implied readability to that module via a requires transitive directive, then there is an edge from the first module to the second.

• At the very bottom is the java.base module, which contains essential classes such as java.lang.Object and java.lang.String. The base module depends upon no module, and every other module depends upon the base module.

• At the top is the java.se module, which gathers together all of the modules that comprise the Java SE Platform. This is an example of an aggregator module, which logically gathers the content of other modules by granting implied readability to them, but adds no content of its own. A run-time system configured to contain the java.se module will contain all of the packages of the Java SE Platform.

A module is a Java SE module — that is, considered part of the Java SE Platform Specification — if and only if it is a standard module reachable from the java.se module.

This Specification incorporates the following subsections by reference from Java SE 9 Platform Specification (JSR 379), “Modules”:

• Constraints on Java SE modules
• Constraints on all modules in an Implementation
• Relaxing strong encapsulation
• Overriding module declarations
• Upgradeable modules

The following APIs are removed from the Java SE Platform by this Platform Specification. The number in parentheses indicates the Java SE Platform Specification which first proposed their removal.

Fields

• java.management.rmi.RMIConnectorServer.CREDENTIAL_TYPES (10)

Constructors

• java.lang.invoke.ConstantBootstraps.<init> (14)
• java.lang.reflect.Modifier.<init> (14)

The following APIs were proposed for removal from the Java SE Platform by the Platform Specifications for Java SE 9, Java SE 10, Java SE 13, and Java SE 14. They are not removed in this release of the Java SE Platform. They continue to be eligible for removal in a future release.

Classes 

• java.lang.Compiler (9)
• java.security.Certificate (10)
• java.security.Identity (10)
• java.security.IdentityScope (10)
• java.security.Signer (10)
• javax.security.cert.Certificate (13)
• javax.security.cert.X509Certificate (13)

Exceptions  

• javax.security.cert.CertificateEncodingException (13)
• javax.security.cert.CertificateException (13)
• javax.security.cert.CertificateExpiredException (13)
• javax.security.cert.CertificateNotYetValidException (13)
• javax.security.cert.CertificateParsingException (13)

Methods 

• java.lang.Thread.countStackFrames (9)
• java.lang.Thread.resume (14)
• java.lang.Thread.suspend (14)
• java.lang.ThreadGroup.allowThreadSuspension (14)
• java.lang.ThreadGroup.resume (14)
• java.lang.ThreadGroup.suspend (14)
• javax.net.ssl.HandshakeCompletedEvent.getPeerCertificateChain (13)
• javax.net.ssl.SSLSession.getPeerCertificateChain (13)

Constructors 

• javax.tools.ToolProvider.<init> (14)

The following APIs are proposed for removal from the Java SE Platform by this Platform Specification. They are annotated as @Deprecated with forRemoval=true, following the convention established by Enhanced Deprecation. This makes them eligible for removal in a future release.

Packages   

• java.rmi.activation (15)

Classes   

• java.rmi.activation.Activatable (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationDesc (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationGroup (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationGroup_Stub (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationGroupDesc (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationGroupID (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationID (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationInstantiator (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationMonitor (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationSystem (15)
• java.rmi.activation.Activator (15)

Exceptions   

• java.rmi.activation.ActivateFailedException (15)
• java.rmi.activation.ActivationException (15)
• java.rmi.activation.UnknownGroupException (15)
• java.rmi.activation.UnknownObjectException (15)

Additional details about deprecations, including potential alternatives, may be found in the Deprecated API list of the API Specification. Migration away from deprecated APIs is strongly encouraged.