Bump Java bytecode compatibility version to Java11

.github/workflows/beam_PostCommit_Java_Examples_Dataflow_Java.yml

@@ -60,7 +60,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         job_name: [beam_PostCommit_Java_Examples_Dataflow_Java]
         job_phrase: [Run Java examples on Dataflow Java]
-        java_version: ['8','17','21', '25']
+        java_version: ['17', '21', '25']
     if: |
       github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' ||
       github.event_name == 'pull_request_target' ||

.github/workflows/beam_PostCommit_Java_Examples_Dataflow_V2_Java.yml

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ jobs:
         job_name: [beam_PostCommit_Java_Examples_Dataflow_V2_Java]
         job_phrase_1: [Run Java ]
         job_phrase_2: [Examples on Dataflow Runner V2]
-        java_version: ['8', '17', '21', '25']
+        java_version: ['17', '21', '25']
     if: |
       github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' ||
       github.event_name == 'pull_request_target' ||

.github/workflows/beam_PostCommit_Java_Hadoop_Versions.yml

@@ -72,22 +72,10 @@ jobs:
           github_job: ${{ matrix.job_name }} (${{ matrix.job_phrase }})
       - name: Setup environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-environment-action
-        with:
-          java-version: |
-            8
-            11
       - name: run javaHadoopVersionsTest script
         uses: ./.github/actions/gradle-command-self-hosted-action
         with:
           gradle-command: :javaHadoopVersionsTest
-      # TODO(https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/32189) remove when embedded hive supports Java11
-      - name: run java8HadoopVersionsTest script
-        uses: ./.github/actions/gradle-command-self-hosted-action
-        with:
-          gradle-command: :sdks:java:io:hcatalog:hadoopVersionsTest
-          arguments: |
-            -PtestJavaVersion=8 \
-            -Pjava8Home=$JAVA_HOME_8_X64 \
       - name: Archive JUnit Test Results
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
         if: ${{ !success() }}

CHANGES.md

@@ -77,6 +77,8 @@
   ([#38139](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/38139)).
 * (Python) Added type alias for with_exception_handling to be used for typehints. ([#38173](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/38173)).
 * Added plugin mechanism to support different Lineage implementations (Java) ([#36790](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/36790)).
+* (Python) Supported Python user type in Beam SQL. For example, SQL statements like `SELECT some_field from PCOLLECTION` can now operate a PCollection of Beam Row containing pickable Python user type ([#20738](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/20738)).
+* (Python) Introduced `beam.coders.registry.register_row` as preferred API to register a named tuple or dataclass with a Beam Row. At pipelne runtime, the original type associated with the registered row are preserved across the serialization boundary ([#38108](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/38108)).
 
 ## Breaking Changes
 
@@ -85,6 +87,7 @@
 ## Deprecations
 
 * X behavior is deprecated and will be removed in X versions ([#X](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/X)).
+* Dropped Java 8 support ([#31678](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/31678)).
 * Removed Samza Runner support ([#35448](https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/35448)).
 
 ## Bugfixes