Are there limitations to JSR223 implementation on Java 1.5

The Java API for scripting languages (JSR223) comes as standard in Java 1.6 and can be downloaded separately for Java 1.5 here.

My question is: are there any limitations or differences I should be aware of if using the separate download with 1.5 versus the native s开发者_开发知识库upport in 1.6?

I had been facing the same question earlier.

One difference might be the quality of script engines. Here's a response I got on jruby-user list:

I guess one of the reasons would be that current JRuby engine works on Java5 is not an official release. I put the archive for users' convenience. http://old.nabble.com/Call-for-discussion-about-embed-API-tp24528478p24981076.html :

Also:

I also know some class version problems were reported for Java5+JSR223+Jruby, but it works fine for me. http://old.nabble.com/Call-for-discussion-about-embed-API-tp24528478p25181920.html

I think these relate to ScriptEngines actually compiled under JDK5, see http://kenai.com/projects/jruby/pages/JavaIntegration#Java_6_(using_JSR_223:_Scripting)

That said, I haven't really run into these or other real problems on Java5 and JRuby - apart from the limitations of java.scripting API itself, but that's the same on Java6 I guess. (See that thread above as well).

So I think the benefit of Java6 -strictly from JSR223 point of view- would be better support and performance.

On the other hand, I did run into class loading problems with Java 6 with OSGI: I think it needs extra tweaks so that the JRE's built in discovery mechanism finds the ScriptEngines living in bundles.. (I might post another SO question about this :)