The feature of time-based release versioning revises the version-string scheme of JDK SE platform, for current and future time-based release versions.

The proposed format is as follows:

$FEATURE.$INTERIM.$UPDATE.$PATCH

The following are the details of the elements used in the preceding string:

• $FEATURE: With the new (and strict) six-month release cadence, this value is incremented every six months. The JDK version released on Mar 2018 was 10, the version released in Sep 2018 was JDK 11. JDK 12 released in Mar 2019, and so on.
• $INTERIM: With the six-month release cadence, there aren't any interim releases. However, this element is retained for potential future use cases.
• $UPDATE: This element represents an update, incremented for compatible update releases that fix security issues, regressions, and bugs in newer features. This is incremented a month after the increment in $FEATURE, and every three months thereafter.
• $PATCH: This element represents the emergency patch-release counter, for emergency releases for a critical bug.