How to find the minimum JDK version of a specific version of maven dependency?

Now I use the JDK1.5 to develop the program, so I have to guarantee the maven dependencies I want to use are compatible with the JDK 1.5 . Sometimes, latest version needs jdk higher than 1.5 but older version may fit. But how to find the minimum JDK version of a specific version of maven dependency? I have tried mvnrepository.com but can not find the jdk requirement. Some project home page only show the jdk requirement of latest version. Anyone can help me? Thank you!

Solution

You can check the major/minor version of the class files. If the JAR was built with Maven you can check the version of the JDK used to build it in the META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file which is most likely the minimum version.

A way to check without downloading the JAR is to check the POM on maven central e.g.

http://search.maven.org/#artifactdetails%7Cnet.openhft%7Cchronicle-queue%7C4.5.15%7Cbundle

needs 1.8

       <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
            <configuration>
                <compilerArgument>-Xlint:deprecation</compilerArgument>
                <compilerArgument>-XDignore.symbol.file</compilerArgument>
                <source>1.8</source>
                <target>1.8</target>
                <encoding>UTF-8</encoding>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

Something to consider, if Oracle with all it's resources doesn't support Java 7 for free, should you?