I want to retain my Oracle Java while using JOSM

[davidreik@…]

Many nice people have given lots of information to me on this subject at ​https://community.openstreetmap.org/t/who-is-fighting-over-ownership-of-java/107933/24 . The information seems relevant, but I can't do anything with it. It seems that people are assuming I know what terms mean that are meaningless to me. Over the last eight years or so, I have used JOSM to successfully map many nature preserves in Connecticut, USA. Apparently, a bunch of very smart people have created, and maintain, JOSM. At least as of 2024-1-23, I could still use JOSM if I clicked by several warnings that I should update. I can't be the only person who wants to still use Oracle Open Office (it works) and also wants to use JOSM.

[GerdP]

OK, nobody asks you to uninstall Oracle Java. You can have two or more different Java Run Times on the same PC.
On a Windows machine, simply run the installer https://josm.openstreetmap.de/download/windows/josm-setup.msi which will install a newer JRE which is used by JOSM and the existing JRE remains untouched.

[taylor.smock]

A couple of notes:

1. Apache OpenOffice apparently only distributes a 32 bit executable for Windows. I assume you are running windows (if you aren't, see instructions below to give us a status report).
2. You will have a better experience with JOSM if you install a 64 bit version of Java and run JOSM with it. You should be able to set 64 bit Java version as the "default" during the install. We are currently recommending ​azul for the Java distribution.
3. I have not verified that OpenOffice will correctly find the 32 bit version of Java; I suspect it will.
4. Apparently OpenOffice will work just fine with Java 11 (see ​https://www.openoffice.org/download/common/java.html ). It will probably work just fine with Java 17 or 21. Not that it matters, since if you install the 64 bit version of Java for JOSM, OpenOffice should continue using whatever 32 bit version of Java was installed.
5. Have you considered moving to ​LibreOffice? It has a much more active development community, and will likely be more interoperable with Microsoft Office users. I don't use word processors, but I don't think there is much difference (from a UI perspective) between LibreOffice and OpenOffice. Or at least there wasn't when I last checked a few years ago.
6. Looking at the linked discussion, it looks like you have already run the exe and msi installers. Neither one has a finish screen (I think @GerdP filed a ticket on that awhile back). Please check to see if you have JOSM installed and available in the Windows start menu.

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Thanks for your report, however your ticket is incomplete and therefore not helpful in its current form.

Please add all needed information according to this list:

• The required parts of the Status Report from your JOSM.
  • Please, use Report Bug from Help menu and copy & paste.
• Describe what behaviour you expected.
• Describe what did happen instead.
• Describe if and how the issue is reproducible.
• Add any relevant information like error messages or screenshots.

To ensure that all technical relevant information is contained, create new tickets by clicking in JOSMs Main Menu on Help → Report Bug.

Remember: This is a generic notice so we don't need to write the same stuff again and again. It may only apply in parts to the specific case!

[stoecker]

You will be able to still use JOSM with Java 8 in the future. But you will not be able to use newer versions of JOSM (starting with releases this year) when you don't update Java to newer versions. As it seems you're happy to keep old software (like OpenOffice which has long been replaced by LibreOffice) there is nothing preventing you keeping also an old JOSM version.

But expect that there will be a day in the future where whatever new feature or function will require an update. But that's probably some years away. ATM we're pretty up-to-date with external requirements (like OAuth2 switch of OSM server).

Java 8 is now 10 years old and current release is 21. For us it's time to move on.