Oracle recently released version 15 of the Java programming language and virtual machine. In the new OpenJDK release cadence, this means that work has already shifted to version 16, which is due to be released in March 2021. New features include procedural upgrades, new APIs and tooling, operating system ports, strongly encapsulating JDK internals by default, and more.

The new features announced can be subdivided into several categories, starting with some procedural upgrades for how OpenJDK is developed:

• Migrate from Mercurial to Git (JEP 357)
• Migrate to GitHub (JEP 369)
• Enable C++14 Language Features (JEP 347)

There are some new APIs and tooling - most of them still in incubating form:

• Vector API (Incubator) (JEP 338)
• Foreign Linker API (Incubator) (JEP 389)
• Foreign-Memory Access API (Third Incubator) (JEP 393)
• Unix-Domain Socket Channels (JEP 380)
• Packaging Tool (JEP 392)

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