• The Java Version Almanac
• JDK Releases

Java 6

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

• XML Digital Signatures (javax.xml.crypto.dsig) (JSR 105)
• Streaming API for XML 1.0 (javax.xml.stream) (JSR 173)
• Web Services Metadata (javax.jws) (JSR 181)
• Java API for XML Processing 1.3 (javax.xml.*) (JSR 206)
• JAXB 2.0 (javax.xml.bind) (JSR 222)
• Scripting for the Java Platform (javax.script) (JSR 223)
• XML-Based Web Services 2.0 (javax.xml.ws) (JSR 224)
• Common Annotations (javax.annotations) (JSR 250)
• Smart Card I/O (javax.smartcardio) (JSR 268)
• Pluggable Annotation Processing (javax.lang.model) (JSR 269)
• Java Activation Framework (javax.annotation) (JDK-6254474)

Tools

• javac supports java.lang.SuppressWarnings annotation (JDK-4986256)

Should I Upgrade?

Java 6 is end-of-life since 2018-10-16. Unless you have a support contract for this version and a compelling reason to stay on the old version you should definitely upgrade to a newer version with active support.

Please consider upgrading to a current long term support LTS version Java 8, Java 11, Java 17, Java 21 or Java 25 to rely on a maintained platform and get advantage of the latest features and improvements.

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