Normal RMI exported objects that are referenced by RMI clients inhibit the Java Runtime from exiting due to the non-daemon thread that monitors the liveness of the client reference.

The JMX implementation (via RMIExporter) that uses an implementation private RMI interface to mark its servers 'permanent' which serves to allow the process to exit normally when application threads have terminated.

Non-JDK applications and services need a similar function and have been using internal APIs that will be encapsulated in JDK 9.

A supported API that allows an exported object to be created as daemon or set to be daemon is needed to replace the loss of functionality.