Document how to disable "older runtime" warning

[oliviercailloux]

Each time I open a project, I get this popup warning: “This project is using an older Java runtime (17). Would you like to upgrade it to Java 21 (latest LTS)?”. It’s indicated as coming from “Project Manager for Java”, which if I understand correctly means vscode-java-dependency.

The message is correct: these Maven projects use JDK release 17 (as indicated in their POM). But I do not want to upgrade to 21 for now, thank you.

How can I disable this warning? I expected to find it in the doc, but I do not see anything related there, unless I am missing something obvious.

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi @oliviercailloux, I'm an AI Support assistant here to help with your issue. While the team reviews your request, I wanted to provide some possible tips and documentation that might help you in the meantime.

No built-in setting currently exists to suppress the “older runtime” upgrade prompt in the Project Manager for Java extension. Workarounds:

• Disable the Project Manager for Java extension entirely (you’ll lose the Java dependency tree features):

1. Open the Extensions view in VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+X / ⇧⌘X).
2. Search for “Java Dependency” (ID: vscjava.vscode-java-dependency).
3. Click Disable.
   Related comment: https://github.com/redhat-developer/vscode-java/issues/3368#issuecomment-1784954036

• Install or configure a newer JDK (e.g. Java 21) and point your workspace to it so the prompt won’t trigger. For example, in your settings.json:

"java.configuration.runtimes": [
  { "name": "JavaSE-21", "path": "/path/to/jdk-21", "default": true },
  { "name": "JavaSE-17", "path": "/path/to/jdk-17" }
]

• File a feature request on the vscode-java-dependency repo to add a “never show again” setting: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-java-dependency/issues/new

No duplicates found.

Other references with low confidence

• Issue #3368 (“java project explorer is broken and doesn’t work, update”) – suggests disabling Project Manager for Java to stop popups: https://github.com/redhat-developer/vscode-java/issues/3368#issuecomment-1784954036

The team will respond to your issue shortly. I hope these suggestions are helpful in the meantime. If this comment helped you, please give it a 👍. If the suggestion was not helpful or incorrect, please give it a 👎. Your feedback helps us improve!

[plnordquist]

I came to this issue to ask the same thing. It looks like it's tied to java.dependency.enableDependencyCheckup and the code is in this PR #901. They seem to tie both a warning for Spring and the JDK to this one setting. I'm not sure why this extension needs to warn about Spring when a VSCode user could just as easily install the Spring Boot Tools extension and receive a similar warning. It's probably about the AI assistance.

[oliviercailloux]

Indeed, disabling java.dependency.enableDependencyCheckup disables this warning. I am thus now turning this request into a documentation request. (Also it would be good if the warning pop up window itself would propose to toggle this.)