Deprecate AggressiveHeap

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    • Type: Enhancement
    • Resolution: Unresolved
    • Priority: P4
    • 26
    • Affects Version/s: None
    • Component/s: hotspot
    • None
    • gc

      The `-XX:+AggressiveHeap` flag is an alias that enables a set of heap tuning options, intended to optimize performance for long-running, memory-intensive applications. Despite documentation suggesting its general applicability, a closer review of the implementation and associated comments reveals a strong focus on SPECjbb-specific benchmarking scenarios. This focus creates ambiguity about its suitability as a general optimization for all long-running, memory-intensive workloads. The heap tuning options enabled by AggressiveHeap have changed little since their introduction, either because they still suit certain benchmarks or simply due to lack of ongoing maintenance. As JVM tuning practices and documentation have evolved, users can now explicitly set memory and heap options tailored to their specific workloads. Consequently, the continued existence of AggressiveHeap appears unnecessary, especially since its behavior lacks transparency, may not apply broadly, and can result in inconsistent performance due to changes across JVM versions. Deprecating AggressiveHeap will reduce maintenance overhead and remove unintuitive assumptions in the JVM, such as always implying use of ParallelGC. Ultimately, this change encourages users to make explicit and well-informed configuration choices, improving both usability and predictability.

            Assignee:
            Joel Sikström
            Reporter:
            Joel Sikström
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              Created:
              Updated: