Allow code to work on Java7 for now

Author: sebbASF

pom.xml

@@ -219,13 +219,17 @@ limitations under the License.
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
       <artifactId>commons-lang3</artifactId>
-      <version>3.9</version>
+      <!-- 3.9+ needs Java8 -->
+      <version>3.8</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   <properties>
-    <maven.compiler.source>1.8</maven.compiler.source>
-    <maven.compiler.target>1.8</maven.compiler.target>
+    <maven.compiler.source>1.7</maven.compiler.source>
+    <maven.compiler.target>1.7</maven.compiler.target>
+    <!-- Fix to build on JDK 7: version 4.0.0 requires Java 8. -->
+    <!-- Can be dropped when CP 49 is released -->
+    <commons.felix.version>3.5.1</commons.felix.version>
     <commons.componentid>codec</commons.componentid>
     <commons.module.name>org.apache.commons.codec</commons.module.name>
     <commons.jira.id>CODEC</commons.jira.id>

src/main/java/org/apache/commons/codec/language/DaitchMokotoffSoundex.java

@@ -500,7 +500,7 @@ private String[] soundex(final String source, final boolean branching) {
             }
 
             // use an EMPTY_LIST to avoid false positive warnings wrt potential null pointer access
-            final List<Branch> nextBranches = branching ? new ArrayList<>() : Collections.<Branch>emptyList();
+            final List<Branch> nextBranches = branching ? new ArrayList<Branch>() : Collections.<Branch>emptyList();
 
             for (final Rule rule : rules) {
                 if (rule.matches(inputContext)) {