Options for App Inventor on Google App Engine After Java 8 Support Ends?

Google has announced that Java 8 will reach its end of support on January 30, 2024. After this date, we will no longer be able to create or update applications on the unsupported runtime. What steps can we take to continue deploying App Inventor on Google App Engine after this deadline?

We are aware of the upcoming deadline and are in the process of migrating the system to work with Java 11.

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What does this mean for a wider range of users? Wouldn't it be necessary to de-sugar the libraries, for example? Is there something else going on here?

The typical App Inventor user will see no difference before and after. All existing libraries used by App Inventor are, by definition, desugared since they have to be compatible with the Android dx utility. As part of the branch I'm working on, I have also implemented support for d8, which should allow for a greater breadth of libraries in extensions (but at last check only 2% or so of our users use extensions). d8 does the desugaring step so that would just be part of the standard build process when a user elects to compile their app.

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Will this update have any impact on existing extensions ?

It should not. Basically, all of the code that runs today should continue to run since it was written and compiled for an older Java version.

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