--- title: Kotlin's JDK release compatibility flag | daily.dev description: A real-world Android crash caused by a `NoSuchMethodError` on `List.removeFirst()` reveals a subtle but critical Kotlin/JVM cross-compilation pitfall. When the... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-s-jdk-release-compatibility-flag-clwz8knqf twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Kotlin's JDK release compatibility flag | daily.dev og:description: A real-world Android crash caused by a `NoSuchMethodError` on `List.removeFirst()` reveals a subtle but critical Kotlin/JVM cross-compilation pitfall. When the... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-s-jdk-release-compatibility-flag-clwz8knqf og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/clWZ8kNQf.png og:image:alt: Kotlin's JDK release compatibility flag og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Kotlin's JDK release compatibility flag **[Jake Wharton](https://daily.dev/sources/jakewharton)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A real-world Android crash caused by a `NoSuchMethodError` on `List.removeFirst()` reveals a subtle but critical Kotlin/JVM cross-compilation pitfall. When the build JDK was bumped to 21, the new `removeFirst()` member method added to `java.util.List` in JDK 21 silently took precedence over Kotlin's extension function of the same name — even though `jvmTarget` was set to 1.8. This is because `jvmTarget` only controls the bytecode version emitted, not which JDK APIs are visible during compilation. The fix is Kotlin's `-Xjdk-release` flag (introduced in Kotlin 1.7), which mirrors `javac`'s `--release` flag by restricting available APIs to the specified JDK version. Android targets are unaffected since `android.jar` already limits the visible Java APIs. A Gradle DSL for this flag is tracked in KT-49746 but not yet available. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Kotlin 2.3.20 harmonizes with C, JavaScript/Typescript](https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-2-3-20-harmonizes-with-c-javascript-typescript-hddvbwasn) · InfoWorld · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [How Gradle Is Javamaxxing](https://daily.dev/posts/how-gradle-is-javamaxxing-knrrqwz9d) · Gradle Blog · 28 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#java](https://daily.dev/tags/java), [#android](https://daily.dev/tags/android), [#kotlin](https://daily.dev/tags/kotlin), [#jvm](https://daily.dev/tags/jvm), [#gradle](https://daily.dev/tags/gradle) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-s-jdk-release-compatibility-flag-clwz8knqf) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Kotlin's JDK release compatibility flag","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-s-jdk-release-compatibility-flag-clwz8knqf","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/kotlin-s-jdk-release-compatibility-flag-clwz8knqf"},"datePublished":"2026-07-05T07:13:37.784Z","dateModified":"2026-07-05T07:15:15.415Z","description":"A real-world Android crash caused by a `NoSuchMethodError` on `List.removeFirst()` reveals a subtle but critical Kotlin/JVM cross-compilation pitfall. 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