OpenJDK Bug Fixing + JavaOne + JDK 28 Inside Java Newscast #116

On August 18th, 2026 a mail pops up on the hotspot-compiler-dev mailing list and it describes something that is not supposed to happen: a serious new bug in a JDK release candidate phase, just a few weeks before general availability. Apparently, under very specific circumstances, some buffer contents aren't correctly copied and strings can get corrupted. This is bad, very bad even, and obviously requires analysis and a fix. This is the story of the structure and community that fixes bugs like these and how they operate. We also take a quick look at JavaOne, the Inside Java Podcast, and JDK 28, which is shaping up to be a big release.

Show Notes

A critical bug:

• JEP 3

• the original issue

• the original PR

• Lorenzo's bug description

• Chris' alarm for the P1 bug

• the bug in JDK 27

• backing out the change on the main branch

• backporting the backout to JDK 27

• Mark's confirmation

• redoing the change on the main branch

• Quality Outreach

Meat space:

• JavaOne

JDK 28:

• early-access builds

• feature list

Additional Resources

• dev.java: the destination for Java developers

• OpenJDK: the place to collaborate on the Java Platform and related projects

• Oracle Java: the #1 programming language and development platform

The "Inside Java Newscast" is a monthly YouTube show - check out the YouTube playlist for all the episodes. Since 2026, we also publish it as a podcast. For more Java news, subscribe to our RSS feed and follow @Java on X.

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