"OpenJDK Bug Fixing, JavaOne, and JDK 28" [IJN]

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. Links: A critical bug: JEP 3: https://openjdk.org/jeps/3 the original issue: https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8373591 the original PR: https://github.com/openjdk/jdk/pull/28789 Lorenzo's bug description: https://mail.openjdk.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/5NVKBE3C5T5ULKVO5T3RTUQZDIXQMHBE/ Chris' alarm for the P1 bug: https://mail.openjdk.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/EPJNIMIAROC2QELIZE5MAGU4D6S3FEVG/#K52LJL4HZJE565UBU465PT4ZBRC2XV4Y the bug in JDK 27: https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8390546 backing out the change on the mail branch: https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8390590 backporting the backout to JDK 27: https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8390663 Mark's confirmation: https://mail.openjdk.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/K52LJL4HZJE565UBU465PT4ZBRC2XV4Y/ redoing the change on the main branch: https://bugs.openjdk.org/browse/JDK-8390617 Quality Outreach: https://wiki.openjdk.org/spaces/quality/pages/18448461/Quality+Outreach JavaOne: https://javaone.com JDK 28: early-access builds: https://inside.java/podcast/ feature list: https://openjdk.org/projects/jdk/28/