Correlation between Java EE / J2EE to J2SE / JDK versions

Question

I was certain that I'll find a duplicate question or a satisfying answer, but I haven't.

What I'm looking for is the answer to these questions:

• Is there an official correlation between Java EE / J2EE and J2SE / JDK versions?
• If the answer is yes, where is it written?
• If the answer is no, then why? and is there an unofficial version table (e.g. JDK 1.4 goes well with J2EE 1.3, JDK 1.5 goes well with J2EE 1.4, JDK 1.6 with Java EE 5 and so on)

I can think of a couple of reasons for the uncoupling, but can't seem to find a good reference source

Related questions:

Java SE vs Java EE, college and career

What is Java EE?

Answer 1

Is there an official correlation between Java EE / J2EE and J2SE / JDK versions?

Sun may try to keep some kind of "correlation" to not confuse users and for marketing purpose but, AFAIK, no, there is no official correlation (and maintaining the pseudo synchronisation might become harder in the future as the JDK evolves faster than the Java EE specification).

UPDATE: I was wrong, there is actually a correlation (see below). But I still think that this might become a problem: Java 7 is scheduled for late 2010, will the expert group succeed to roll out Java EE 7 before Java 8 and Java 7 EOL?

If the answer is yes, where is it written?

Quoting the JSR 151: JavaTM 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition 1.4 (J2EE 1.4) Specification home page:

• J2EE 1.4 is the Enterprise Edition of version 1.4 of the Java platform, and thus will be built on J2SE 1.4.

Quoting the JSR 244: Java(TM) Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5) Specification home page:

• Java EE 5 is the Enterprise Edition of version 5 of the Java platform, and thus will be built on J2SE 5.0.

Quoting the JSR 316: JavaTM Platform, Enterprise Edition 6 (Java EE 6) Specification home page:

• Java EE 6 is the Enterprise Edition of version 6 of the Java platform, and thus will be built on Java SE 6.

Seriously, why do we have to go to the JCP website to find this (maybe I should have started there though)?

If the answer is no, then why?

Java Enterprise Edition is a specification, not an implementation. It might rely on specific features (like Java EE 5 and Java 5 generics) but the JDK version is actually dependent upon the implementation of the container you are using. See the Websphere example below. (This still applies, even after the big UPDATE above.)

and is there an unofficial version table (e.g. JDK 1.4 goes well with J2EE 1.3, JDK 1.5 goes well with J2EE 1.4, JDK 1.6 with Java EE 5 and so on)

As I said above, "goes well" doesn't really makes sense as this depends on the container you are using and containers might have different compatibility requirements (for example IBM WebSphere's J2EE 1.4 server may not work with JDK 5). So, I'd rather speak in terms of requirements.

The J2EE 1.4 SDK is bundled with JDK 5 but... J2EE 1.4 requires JDK 1.4 or later. Java EE 5 requires JDK 5 or later. Java EE 6 requires JDK 6 or later (JDK 5 is at its EOL for 2+ months now).