ReleaseRun Badges for Java

Why Use Java Health Badges?

Java’s LTS-based release model means some versions get years of support while others are abandoned within months. A health badge in your project README cuts through the confusion, showing whether a Java version is actively maintained or quietly accumulating unpatched vulnerabilities.

ReleaseRun badges go beyond Shields.io. While Shields.io shows a version number, our badges show security posture: CVE counts, EOL countdowns, and a composite health grade that factors in freshness (35%), security (35%), and support status (30%).

Java Release History & EOL Timeline

Since Java 9, Oracle has shipped a new feature release every six months (March and September). Only select versions are designated as Long-Term Support (LTS) releases, receiving years of updates. Non-LTS versions are supported for just six months until the next feature release replaces them.

• Java 23 – released September 2024. Non-LTS. Supported only until March 2025 when Java 24 arrives.
• Java 21 (LTS) – released September 2023. The current recommended LTS version. Oracle Premier Support runs until September 2028, with Extended Support available until September 2031.
• Java 17 (LTS) – released September 2021. Premier Support until September 2026, Extended Support until September 2029. Still widely used in production and a solid choice for teams not yet ready for 21.
• Java 11 (LTS) – released September 2018. Oracle Premier Support ended in September 2023. Extended Support continues until January 2032, but only for paying Oracle customers. Open-source distributions like Eclipse Temurin may have shorter windows.
• Java 8 (LTS) – released March 2014. Over a decade old. Oracle public updates ended in January 2019 for commercial use. Extended Support runs until December 2030, but free updates vary by vendor. Many enterprises remain on Java 8 due to migration complexity.

The gap between LTS and non-LTS support creates confusion. A health badge makes it immediately obvious whether a specific Java version is safe to run in production or whether it is time to upgrade.

Badge Customization Examples

ReleaseRun offers four badge types for Java. Each serves a different monitoring purpose:

• Health badge – composite A-F grade reflecting overall risk. Embed: ![Java Health](https://img.releaserun.com/badge/health/java.svg)
• EOL badge – end-of-life countdown or status. Embed: ![Java EOL](https://img.releaserun.com/badge/eol/java.svg)
• Version badge – latest stable version number. Embed: ![Java Version](https://img.releaserun.com/badge/v/java.svg)
• CVE badge – known vulnerability count. Embed: ![Java CVE](https://img.releaserun.com/badge/cve/java.svg)

Add ?style=flat-square or ?style=for-the-badge to any URL for alternative rendering. The embed builder above lets you preview all styles before copying.

Common Use Cases

• Enterprise teams: Track which Java LTS version your microservices are running. With dozens of services potentially on different versions (8, 11, 17, 21), a badge per service provides instant visibility into upgrade priorities.
• Library maintainers: Show which Java versions your library supports and their current health status. When Java 11 Premier Support ended in September 2023, maintainers who displayed badges gave users early warning to plan their migration.
• Spring Boot projects: Spring Boot 3.x requires Java 17+. Add a Java health badge alongside your Spring Boot badge so contributors know both the framework and runtime are current.
• Compliance teams: Many regulatory frameworks require running supported software. A CVE badge showing zero known vulnerabilities provides auditable proof that your Java runtime is patched.

Related ReleaseRun Tools

Java badges are part of a broader toolkit for managing your Java dependency lifecycle:

• Dependency EOL Scanner – scan your pom.xml or build.gradle and flag any dependency approaching end-of-life.
• Tech Stack Health Scorecard – get a holistic health grade across your entire stack, including the JVM, frameworks, and databases.
• Upgrade Path Planner – plan your migration from Java 11 to 21 with step-by-step guidance and breaking change analysis.
• CVE Dashboard – monitor known vulnerabilities across all your tracked products including Java and its ecosystem.
• Badge Generator – create custom health badges for any product in the ReleaseRun database.
• Maven Dependency Health Checker — check your Maven dependencies for outdated versions, EOL status, and known CVEs.
• Maven pom.xml Batch Health Checker — check all your Maven dependencies at once, with version gap and A–F grade per package.

What Makes These Different

Every badge pulls live data from the endoflife.date API and the NIST National Vulnerability Database. Data refreshes every 6 hours. Badges are edge-cached for 5 minutes, fast enough for CI pipelines, Maven sites, and documentation portals.

📚 Also see: 195+ Developer Reference Guides — quick-reference cheat sheets for every language and framework. 84+ free developer tools — security scanners, package health checkers, and more.