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Java 6

StatusEnd of Life
Release Date2006-12-12
EOL Date2018-10-16
Latest Version6u211
CodenameMustang
Class File Version50.0
Unicode Version4.0.0
API ChangesCompare to 5 - 1.4 - 1.3 - 1.2 - 1.1 - 1.0
DocumentationRelease Notes, Language Spec, VM Spec, JavaDoc
SCM

This is the first release after Sun Microsystems open sourced Java SE under the GPLv2 license.

The release primarily added new APIs, for example a full web services stack including several XML processing APIs. A step that was reverted 12 years later, when these APIs were removed again.

New Features

Here are all new features in Java 6 by category. There is also of list of all features of all Java releases.

API

Tools

Downloads

VendorProductLicensePlatform Downloads
Azul SystemsZulu Builds of OpenJDK 6GPLv2+CE
OracleJava SE Development Kit 6Commercial