cordova-android 14: Java JDK 11 or 17?

[GitToTheHub]

Hi,

I'm confused which JDK should be used for cordova-android 14. On the blog entry for cordova-android 14 it says JDK 11. But on the Android Platform Guide it says JDK 17, also the guide says JDK 17 already for cordova-android 13.

What is correct?

Regards,

Manuel

[erisu]

The Java version mentioned in the blog post refers to the Source and Target Compatibility, which defines the language features and bytecode level your project compiles to. This is different from the JDK installed on the build system, which is the actual toolchain used during compilation.

As the Android Platform Guide notes, the build environment should use JDK 17. We set this requirement based on the Android Gradle Plugin (AGP), not from the source/target compatibility settings.

For example, Cordova-Android 13.x and 14.x use AGP 8.x, and AGP 8.0+ requires JDK 17 to run.

References from Android Developers Docs:

• sourceCompatibility
• targetCompatibility

[GitToTheHub]

Thanks for your reply. So AGP requires JDK 17 to build, but it will compile against Java 11, is this right? Would the finished build be compatible to Java 11 than? Why is not Java 17 used as sourceCompatibility and targetCompatibility?