diff --git a/compiler/compiler.pro b/compiler/compiler.pro
index 8bc9290f823..6098c12103a 100644
--- a/compiler/compiler.pro
+++ b/compiler/compiler.pro
@@ -132,9 +132,6 @@ messages/**)
 }
 -keep class com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringHash { *; }
 
-# for gradle plugin and other server tools
--keep class com.intellij.openapi.util.io.ZipFileCache { public *; }
-
 # for j2k
 -keep class com.intellij.codeInsight.NullableNotNullManager { public protected *; }
 
@@ -202,4 +199,4 @@ messages/**)
 -keep class com.intellij.openapi.module.ModuleServiceManager { public *; }
 
 # for building kotlin-build-common-test
--keep class org.jetbrains.kotlin.build.SerializationUtilsKt { *; }
\ No newline at end of file
+-keep class org.jetbrains.kotlin.build.SerializationUtilsKt { *; }
diff --git a/libraries/ReadMe.md b/libraries/ReadMe.md
index d6136c41847..6a9c6a6323e 100644
--- a/libraries/ReadMe.md
+++ b/libraries/ReadMe.md
@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@ setup environment variables as following:
     JDK_17="path to JDK 1.7"
     JDK_18="path to JDK 1.8"
 
-The main part of kotlin runtime and all tools are compiled against JDK 1.6 and also there are two extensions
-for the standard library which are compiled against JDK 1.7 and 1.8 respectively, so you need to have all these JDKs installed.
+The main part of the Kotlin standard library, `kotlin-stdlib`, is compiled against JDK 1.6 and also there are two extensions
+for the standard library, `kotlin-stdlib-jre7` and `kotlin-stdlib-jre8`, which are compiled against JDK 1.7 and 1.8 respectively,
+so you need to have all these JDKs installed.
 
 Then you'll be able to build tools and libraries with:
 
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ Be sure to build Kotlin compiler distribution before launching Maven: see ReadMe
 
 If your maven build is failing with Out-Of-Memory errors, set JVM options for maven in MAVEN_OPTS environment variable like this:
 
-    MAVEN_OPTS="-Xms512m -Xmx1024m -XX:PermSize=256m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m"
+    MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx2G"
 
 ## Gradle Plugin
 
diff --git a/libraries/pom.xml b/libraries/pom.xml
index 5720f870925..ba346994c2e 100644
--- a/libraries/pom.xml
+++ b/libraries/pom.xml
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@
 
         <kotlin-dist>${project-root}/dist</kotlin-dist>
         <kotlin-sdk>${kotlin-dist}/kotlinc</kotlin-sdk>
-        <kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>${env.JDK_16}</kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>
+        <kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>${env.JDK_18}</kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>
 
         <kotlin.language.version>1.1</kotlin.language.version>
 
diff --git a/libraries/stdlib/pom.xml b/libraries/stdlib/pom.xml
index 83a2b7fe627..c9945494d39 100644
--- a/libraries/stdlib/pom.xml
+++ b/libraries/stdlib/pom.xml
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 
     <artifactId>kotlin-stdlib</artifactId>
 
+    <properties>
+        <kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>${env.JDK_16}</kotlin.compiler.jdkHome>
+    </properties>
+
     <dependencies>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.jetbrains.kotlin</groupId>
diff --git a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinGradleBuildServices.kt b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinGradleBuildServices.kt
index f8fbf4c8c8d..779a7420ee9 100644
--- a/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinGradleBuildServices.kt
+++ b/libraries/tools/kotlin-gradle-plugin/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/kotlin/gradle/plugin/KotlinGradleBuildServices.kt
@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ import org.gradle.BuildResult
 import org.gradle.api.invocation.Gradle
 import org.gradle.api.logging.Logging
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.cli.jvm.compiler.KotlinCoreEnvironment
-import org.jetbrains.kotlin.com.intellij.openapi.util.io.ZipFileCache
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.com.intellij.openapi.vfs.impl.ZipHandler
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.com.intellij.openapi.vfs.impl.jar.CoreJarFileSystem
-import org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.utils.ParsedGradleVersion
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.tasks.AbstractKotlinCompile
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.incremental.BuildCacheStorage
 import org.jetbrains.kotlin.incremental.multiproject.ArtifactDifferenceRegistryProvider
@@ -138,29 +136,6 @@ internal class CompilerServicesCleanup() {
         }
 
         (KotlinCoreEnvironment.applicationEnvironment?.jarFileSystem as? CoreJarFileSystem)?.clearHandlersCache()
-
-        // making cleanup of static objects only on recognized versions of gradle and if version < 2.4
-        // otherwise it may cause problems e.g. with JobScheduler on subsequent runs
-        // this strategy may lead to memory leaks, but prevent crashes due to destroyed JobScheduler
-        // the reason for the strategy is the following:
-        // gradle < 2.4 has problems with plugin reuse in the daemon: new calls to the plugin are made with a new classloader
-        // for every new build. With statically initialized daemons like JobScheduler that leads to big leaks of classloaders and classes,
-        // therefore to reduce leaks JobScheduler (and deprecated ZipFileCache for now) should be stopped)
-        // It should be noted that because of this behavior there are no benefits of using daemon in these versions.
-        // Starting from 2.4 gradle using cached classloaders, that leads to effective class reusing in the daemon, but
-        // in that case premature stopping of the static daemons may lead to crashes.
-        ParsedGradleVersion.parse(gradleVersion)?.let {
-            log.kotlinDebug("detected gradle version $it")
-            if (it < ParsedGradleVersion.parse("2.4")!!) {
-                // TODO: remove ZipFileCache cleanup after switching to recent idea libs
-                stopZipFileCache()
-            }
-        }
-    }
-
-    private fun stopZipFileCache() {
-        ZipFileCache.stopBackgroundThread()
-        log.kotlinDebug("ZipFileCache finished successfully")
     }
 
     private fun cleanJarCache() {
diff --git a/libraries/tools/kotlin-maven-plugin/pom.xml b/libraries/tools/kotlin-maven-plugin/pom.xml
index 14297700b8b..6e6b3823b79 100644
--- a/libraries/tools/kotlin-maven-plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/libraries/tools/kotlin-maven-plugin/pom.xml
@@ -67,6 +67,10 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
+                <configuration>
+                    <source>1.8</source>
+                    <target>1.8</target>
+                </configuration>
             </plugin>
 
             <plugin>
@@ -91,6 +95,14 @@
                     </execution>
                 </executions>
             </plugin>
+
+            <plugin>
+                <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
+                <version>${surefire-version}</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <jvm>${env.JDK_18}/bin/java</jvm>
+                </configuration>
+            </plugin>
         </plugins>
     </build>