RHEL 6.6 has openJDK java version "1.7.0_65" and RHEL 6.9 has openJDK java version "1.7.0_131".
Does it has any impact on the product? Which was working fine previously with openJDK java version "1.7.0_65".
How it makes difference keeping only openJDK java version "1.7.0_65" in linux server RHEL 6.9 than keeping openJDK java version "1.7.0_131" in linux server RHEL 6.9
Kindly someone clarify my query.
Thanks in advance.
RHEL 6.6, as initially released, has java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.65-2.5.1.2.el6_5. This version is based on OpenJDK 7u65 and IcedTea 2.5.1, released 2014-07-16. As such, it is over two and a half years old. RHEL 6.9 has java-1.7.0-openjdk-1.7.0.131-2.6.9.0.el6_8 which was released on 2017-02-14. Between those two versions, there have been numerous bug fixes and several security updates.
Oracle release Java security updates on a quarterly basis and we at Red Hat apply those to our packages. Since taking over leadership of OpenJDK 7 after 7u80, we also create the backports for that version, using the patches from OpenJDK 8.
Upgrading to the newer version should be low risk, as each new build is testing against the Java 7 compatibility kit provided by Oracle. There is more of a risk in continuing to use a version which is prone to several known security exploits.
Moreover, if you raise a bug, one of the first things we're likely to ask you to do is try the latest version, and any fix for such a bug would go to the new version, not the unsupported 1.7.0_65.
There should also be a new release based on OpenJDK 7u141 coming in the next few weeks. That will contain a further collection of security updates and bug fixes.
Full details of each version are available on my release blog.