LibGDX and Java 8 source compatibilty

Question

I have a libGDX(1.9.2) project with a Core project with Java 7 compliance settings and an Android project with Java 6 compliance settings in Eclipse projects.

That works great, BUT if I change the compliance settings of the Core project to Java 8, the Android build fails with the following exception:

Caused by: com.android.dx.cf.iface.ParseException: bad class file magic (cafebabe) or version (0034.0000)

I tried to modify the build.gradle of the Core and the Android project but nothing fixed the problem so far.

I understand that the Android requires Java 6, but if the Core project built with Java 7 there is no problem.

Is libGDX compatible with Java 8 and if it is then how can I make it work?

I can't check it now, but I downloaded it a few weeks ago, updated and I use Android 6.0 for testing on not virtual phone. AFAIK remember it's called android 23. — gaRos, Mar 19 '16 at 11:37
Am afraid too, but I wanted to ask it, maybe somebody who is related to the libgdx development knows (or will know later) the answer. Thanks anyway! — gaRos, Mar 19 '16 at 11:56
It is not related to libgdx, android doesn't support java 8. Check this : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23318109/is-it-possible-to-use-java-8-for-android-development — Fuat Coşkun, Mar 19 '16 at 12:30

Saeed Masoumi · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-22T19:25:55.377

2

With android N release you can enable jack & jill to use java 8 features, but if you don't want to use jack & jill, you can use retrolambda to have lambda expressions, method references and try-with-resources statements.

Both of these ways allow you to set your source compatibility to java 1.8, so you can build your project without any problem.

edited Mar 22 '16 at 19:25

answered Mar 22 '16 at 13:47

Saeed Masoumi

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If I use this new N version, that would mean I cannot run my application on my 6.0 phone right? – gaRos Mar 22 '16 at 15:24
@gaRos no, just update your sdk to the newest version and use java 8 features in both N and pre-N – Saeed Masoumi Mar 22 '16 at 19:20

LibGDX and Java 8 source compatibilty

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