[astange]

This is so removed from reality that it's difficult to know where to start.

For starters, sub-pixel aliasing is a standard part of the JDK and isn't a Jetbrains addition.

What exactly is stopping you from using a standard JDK17 build with Intellij? How is the IDE not functional for you when doing so? How is it improved when using the JDK17 runtime they have on their github page?

[WatchDog]

I think the Jetbrains Runtime as sub-pixel AA for Linux in particular[0].

I just tried running idea with adoptopenjdk-17 on macos, and it failed to start up, so it doesn't seem that simple.

[0]: https://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/JBR/JetBrains+Runti...

[astange]

Sub-pixel rendering was added in the Java "Mustang" 1.6 release 15 years ago, long before Jetbrains started providing a custom JDK. http://www.ffnn.nl/pages/articles/java/java-2-se-6.0-aesthet...

Trying to use a newer JDK on some applications, like Intellij, may require adding entries to the idea64.vmoptions file to relax the module restrictions that were tightened in JDK 15 and 16, if that app hasn't been updated for those changes. Entries like this: --add-opens=jdk.jdi/com.sun.tools.jdi=ALL-UNNAMED might be needed.

See https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-261033 for entries that might be needed.

[darksaints]

This is easy:

Standard Jetbrains Runtime - slow as fuck, missing a whole host of performance improvements, security updates, and bug fixes since the fork occurred back in JDK8/9 Era.

OpenJDK - ugly as sin, gui becomes glitchy, lose out on customer support channels (first thing they tell you is to use the standard jetbrains runtime)

Newer versions of Jetbrains Runtime - have to reinstall manually every time you update your IDEs. You also lose out on customer support, as they are beta software.

This isn't really a hard problem to solve: find a way to upstream your improvements to the JVM, and then package the upstreamed version. All of these problems go away, and you're even relieved of the burden of maintain a long running fork.

[astange]

Yes, this is easy:

- The current JBR is JDK11, not JDK8. - You don't need to reinstall anything to use an alternative JDK with the IDE. Just set the IDEA_JDK envar to the JDK of choice. - Ugly as sin is an opinion. I use the IDE with linux on a hidpi display. Looks perfectly acceptable to me...even running with JDK18. - I just reported an issue while running with the JBR17 a few days ago. Jetbrains was perfectly responsive to my issue.