Code review comment: Yeah. For Java 11 there is no "JRE" - the only distribution for Java is the JDK. The containers that we provide have the Java 11 JDK.  For Java 8, there is a development distribution, and a runtime distribution (JRE). For the containers we provide the JRE.

Code under review:
public static DataflowRunner fromOptions(PipelineOptions options) {
    DataflowPipelineOptions dataflowOptions =
        PipelineOptionsValidator.validate(DataflowPipelineOptions.class, options);
    ArrayList<String> missing = new ArrayList<>();

    if (dataflowOptions.getAppName() == null) {
      missing.add("appName");
    }
    if (missing.size() > 0) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Missing required values: " + Joiner.on(',').join(missing));
    }

    PathValidator validator = dataflowOptions.getPathValidator();
    String gcpTempLocation;
    try {
      gcpTempLocation = dataflowOptions.getGcpTempLocation();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "DataflowRunner requires gcpTempLocation, "
              + "but failed to retrieve a value from PipelineOptions",
          e);
    }
    validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(gcpTempLocation);

    String stagingLocation;
    try {
      stagingLocation = dataflowOptions.getStagingLocation();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "DataflowRunner requires stagingLocation, "
              + "but failed to retrieve a value from PipelineOptions",
          e);
    }
    validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(stagingLocation);

    if (!isNullOrEmpty(dataflowOptions.getSaveProfilesToGcs())) {
      validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(dataflowOptions.getSaveProfilesToGcs());
    }

    if (dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage() == null) {
      dataflowOptions.setFilesToStage(
          detectClassPathResourcesToStage(DataflowRunner.class.getClassLoader()));
      if (dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage().isEmpty()) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("No files to stage has been found.");
      } else {
        LOG.info(
            "PipelineOptions.filesToStage was not specified. "
                + "Defaulting to files from the classpath: will stage {} files. "
                + "Enable logging at DEBUG level to see which files will be staged.",
            dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage().size());
        LOG.debug("Classpath elements: {}", dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage());
      }
    }

    
    
    String jobName = dataflowOptions.getJobName().toLowerCase();
    checkArgument(
        jobName.matches("[a-z]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?"),
        "JobName invalid; the name must consist of only the characters "
            + "[-a-z0-9], starting with a letter and ending with a letter "
            + "or number");
    if (!jobName.equals(dataflowOptions.getJobName())) {
      LOG.info(
          "PipelineOptions.jobName did not match the service requirements. "
              + "Using {} instead of {}.",
          jobName,
          dataflowOptions.getJobName());
    }
    dataflowOptions.setJobName(jobName);

    
    String project = dataflowOptions.getProject();
    if (project.matches("[0-9]*")) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Project ID '"
              + project
              + "' invalid. Please make sure you specified the Project ID, not project number.");
    } else if (!project.matches(PROJECT_ID_REGEXP)) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Project ID '"
              + project
              + "' invalid. Please make sure you specified the Project ID, not project description.");
    }

    DataflowPipelineDebugOptions debugOptions =
        dataflowOptions.as(DataflowPipelineDebugOptions.class);
    
    if (debugOptions.getNumberOfWorkerHarnessThreads() < 0) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Number of worker harness threads '"
              + debugOptions.getNumberOfWorkerHarnessThreads()
              + "' invalid. Please make sure the value is non-negative.");
    }

    if (dataflowOptions.isStreaming() && dataflowOptions.getGcsUploadBufferSizeBytes() == null) {
      dataflowOptions.setGcsUploadBufferSizeBytes(GCS_UPLOAD_BUFFER_SIZE_BYTES_DEFAULT);
    }

    DataflowRunnerInfo dataflowRunnerInfo = DataflowRunnerInfo.getDataflowRunnerInfo();
    
    String javaVersion =
        Float.parseFloat(System.getProperty("java.specification.version")) >= 9
            ? "(JDK 11 environment)"
            : "(JRE 8 environment)";
    String userAgent =
        String.format(
                "%s %s/%s",
                dataflowRunnerInfo.getName(), javaVersion, dataflowRunnerInfo.getVersion())
            .replace(" ", "_");
    dataflowOptions.setUserAgent(userAgent);

    return new DataflowRunner(dataflowOptions);
  }

Line commented on: String userAgent =

Revised code:
public static DataflowRunner fromOptions(PipelineOptions options) {
    DataflowPipelineOptions dataflowOptions =
        PipelineOptionsValidator.validate(DataflowPipelineOptions.class, options);
    ArrayList<String> missing = new ArrayList<>();

    if (dataflowOptions.getAppName() == null) {
      missing.add("appName");
    }
    if (missing.size() > 0) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Missing required values: " + Joiner.on(',').join(missing));
    }

    PathValidator validator = dataflowOptions.getPathValidator();
    String gcpTempLocation;
    try {
      gcpTempLocation = dataflowOptions.getGcpTempLocation();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "DataflowRunner requires gcpTempLocation, "
              + "but failed to retrieve a value from PipelineOptions",
          e);
    }
    validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(gcpTempLocation);

    String stagingLocation;
    try {
      stagingLocation = dataflowOptions.getStagingLocation();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "DataflowRunner requires stagingLocation, "
              + "but failed to retrieve a value from PipelineOptions",
          e);
    }
    validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(stagingLocation);

    if (!isNullOrEmpty(dataflowOptions.getSaveProfilesToGcs())) {
      validator.validateOutputFilePrefixSupported(dataflowOptions.getSaveProfilesToGcs());
    }

    if (dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage() == null) {
      dataflowOptions.setFilesToStage(
          detectClassPathResourcesToStage(DataflowRunner.class.getClassLoader()));
      if (dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage().isEmpty()) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("No files to stage has been found.");
      } else {
        LOG.info(
            "PipelineOptions.filesToStage was not specified. "
                + "Defaulting to files from the classpath: will stage {} files. "
                + "Enable logging at DEBUG level to see which files will be staged.",
            dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage().size());
        LOG.debug("Classpath elements: {}", dataflowOptions.getFilesToStage());
      }
    }

    
    
    String jobName = dataflowOptions.getJobName().toLowerCase();
    checkArgument(
        jobName.matches("[a-z]([-a-z0-9]*[a-z0-9])?"),
        "JobName invalid; the name must consist of only the characters "
            + "[-a-z0-9], starting with a letter and ending with a letter "
            + "or number");
    if (!jobName.equals(dataflowOptions.getJobName())) {
      LOG.info(
          "PipelineOptions.jobName did not match the service requirements. "
              + "Using {} instead of {}.",
          jobName,
          dataflowOptions.getJobName());
    }
    dataflowOptions.setJobName(jobName);

    
    String project = dataflowOptions.getProject();
    if (project.matches("[0-9]*")) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Project ID '"
              + project
              + "' invalid. Please make sure you specified the Project ID, not project number.");
    } else if (!project.matches(PROJECT_ID_REGEXP)) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Project ID '"
              + project
              + "' invalid. Please make sure you specified the Project ID, not project description.");
    }

    DataflowPipelineDebugOptions debugOptions =
        dataflowOptions.as(DataflowPipelineDebugOptions.class);
    
    if (debugOptions.getNumberOfWorkerHarnessThreads() < 0) {
      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
          "Number of worker harness threads '"
              + debugOptions.getNumberOfWorkerHarnessThreads()
              + "' invalid. Please make sure the value is non-negative.");
    }

    if (dataflowOptions.isStreaming() && dataflowOptions.getGcsUploadBufferSizeBytes() == null) {
      dataflowOptions.setGcsUploadBufferSizeBytes(GCS_UPLOAD_BUFFER_SIZE_BYTES_DEFAULT);
    }

    
    String javaVersion =
        Float.parseFloat(System.getProperty("java.specification.version")) >= 9
            ? "(JDK 11 environment)"
            : "(JRE 8 environment)";

    DataflowRunnerInfo dataflowRunnerInfo = DataflowRunnerInfo.getDataflowRunnerInfo();
    String userAgent =
        String.format(
                "%s/%s%s",
                dataflowRunnerInfo.getName(), dataflowRunnerInfo.getVersion(), javaVersion)
            .replace(" ", "_");
    dataflowOptions.setUserAgent(userAgent);

    return new DataflowRunner(dataflowOptions);
  }