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JDK 27: Obsolete Translation Resources Removed

The JDK includes localized resource files for a number of locales; however, not all of these locales are actively maintained. In addition to the base English resources, only German, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese are currently maintained. Over time, resource files for unmaintained locales tend to drift out of sync with their English counterparts. Not all resource files are equally affected, as some remain relatively stable compared to others.

Oracle JDK builds already exclude these unmaintained resources at build time. However, they are still present in the OpenJDK source tree and may be included in other JDK builds. As a result, users of such builds may encounter outdated localized messages without being aware of it.

JDK 27 removes unmaintained translation resources, with the exception of those in the java.desktop module. Unlike other resources, java.desktop strings may be presented directly to end users of Java applications, not just developers. Because these resources are relatively stable and their removal would be disruptive, they are retained.

The overall compatibility risk is low. Oracle JDK builds are not affected, as they already exclude these unmaintained resources during the build process. However, other JDK builds that do not exclude them (which is the default) may be impacted. In these builds, unsupported locale messages will now appear in English, potentially affecting tests or applications that rely on fixed, locale-specific output (a discouraged practice).

For more information, please check JDK-8381511.

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