JEP 541 deprecates the JDK's macOS/x64 port for removal in JDK 28
Serguey Asael Shinder1 min readThe OpenJDK project has targeted JEP 541, Deprecate the macOS/x64 Port for Removal, to JDK 28. The JEP page lists its status as completed for release 28. Its summary is short: deprecate the port for Intel-based Macs, with the intent to remove it in a future release, to reduce maintenance costs.
The motivation given is that Apple has moved its hardware to the AArch64 architecture and is phasing out x64 support, and that Oracle engineers will stop maintaining the macOS/x64 port as of JDK 27. Maintaining it, the JEP says, is a significant burden.
In practice, configuring a macOS/x64 build will now fail with an error saying the port is deprecated and may be removed. A new build option, --enable-deprecated-ports, turns the error into a warning and lets the build continue, but the JEP states there is no guarantee the port will build, let alone work. The port will be disabled by default in the JDK repository's GitHub Actions, and the relevant documentation will mark it and its port-specific features as deprecated for removal. As with earlier port deprecations, the JEP can be withdrawn or reverted if a credible group of developers commits to maintaining the port.
What it means
Nothing changes for Apple Silicon users. For teams still running Java on Intel Macs, in developer laptops or CI runners, the signal is to plan the move now: JDK 27 is the last release Oracle engineers maintain for that platform, and from JDK 28 builds come only with an explicit opt-in and no guarantee.