You have always needed Java to be installed to run Minecraft. Previous versions of Minecraft have required a minimum of Java 8, while 21w19a requires a minimum of Java 16. Whether you're using a Java Development Kit or not is irrelevant to this issue.
The launcher confusion stems from the fact that the official launcher will automatically install the required Java version. If you're playing 21w19a or a newer version through the official launcher, you are using Java 16, as can easily be seen by checking the F3 debug screen.
None of this is different between the client and server. However, the server will not automatically install Java like the launcher will, so if you've been using an older version of Java you'll need to manually update.
The latest version of Java is Java 16.0.1, not 8.0.291. While both versions have received security fixes since the initial release, Java 16 was released in March 2021 while Java 8 was released in March 2014.
Unlike Java 8, there's no single provider of downloads for Java 16. Some major ones are:
Oracle was historically the primary provider of Java, but their free downloads are now only intended for developers. Their standard releases are now paid and cost several hundred dollars per year. OpenJDK downloads are not included in this.
I can't reproduce this issue in a non-Chrome OS VirGL VM (NixOS 21.05 host, Ubuntu 20.04 guest), despite that in theory being a nearly identical configuration. Either there's a more complex cause here (possibly an interaction between the host and guest GPU drivers?) or this is a Chrome OS bug.
MC-259189![[Mojang] Maxime Lebrot](../../../data/avatars/users/18941.svg){kind=small}
I'm not entirely sure why this works, but this datapack contains a fixed Birch Forest biome: birch_test.zip
You have always needed Java to be installed to run Minecraft. Previous versions of Minecraft have required a minimum of Java 8, while 21w19a requires a minimum of Java 16. Whether you're using a Java Development Kit or not is irrelevant to this issue.
The launcher confusion stems from the fact that the official launcher will automatically install the required Java version. If you're playing 21w19a or a newer version through the official launcher, you are using Java 16, as can easily be seen by checking the F3 debug screen.
None of this is different between the client and server. However, the server will not automatically install Java like the launcher will, so if you've been using an older version of Java you'll need to manually update.
The latest version of Java is Java 16.0.1, not 8.0.291. While both versions have received security fixes since the initial release, Java 16 was released in March 2021 while Java 8 was released in March 2014.
Unlike Java 8, there's no single provider of downloads for Java 16. Some major ones are:
I would personally recommend AdoptOpenJDK, but the choice here is up to you.
I can't reproduce this issue in a non-Chrome OS VirGL VM (NixOS 21.05 host, Ubuntu 20.04 guest), despite that in theory being a nearly identical configuration. Either there's a more complex cause here (possibly an interaction between the host and guest GPU drivers?) or this is a Chrome OS bug.