Juergen Hoeller

As a follow-up to my blog post from last year’s SpringOne, it is time for an update on our Java 17+ baseline efforts!

We established the new baseline on our main branches, with a few milestones out already. The feedback has been very positive, not only in terms of framework improvements but also in terms of the motivation for a Java upgrade at the application level. Of course, it does not end with JDK 17 LTS: JDK 18 is an immediate option already, JDK 19 will be the current release when we go final later this year, with JDK 20 to be in early access by then - and JDK 21 LTS on the horizon already…

Dear Spring community,

It is my pleasure to announce that the first Spring Framework 6.0 milestone release is available from htts://repo.spring.io/milestone now. This initial milestone covers our baseline upgrade efforts, in particular requiring JDK 17+ and migrating to the Jakarta EE 9 APIs; see my recent baseline blog post for the rationale. At the same time, it removes many long-deprecated classes, including several support packages for outdated third-party infrastructure.

For current upgrade notes, please refer to our Upgrading to Spring Framework 6.0 page which we will keep updating. Follow our main branch on GitHub for the latest changes, as we prepare for 6.0 M2 and the corresponding Spring Boot 3.0 M1 release in January. At that point, you will also be able to consume Spring Framework 6.0 through https://start.spring.io/. For the time being, feel free to grab 6.0 M1 from https://repo.spring.io/ and let us know how it goes.

As announced at SpringOne yesterday, Spring Framework 6 and Spring Boot 3 are planned towards a high-end baseline for their general availability in Q4 2022:

• Java 17+ (from Java 8-17 in the Spring Framework 5.3.x line)
• Jakarta EE 9+ (from Java EE 7-8 in the Spring Framework 5.3.x line)

This forward-looking baseline will provide significant benefits in our API design and integration efforts, shining through to your application code and future-proofing the framework as well as your applications for many years to come. However, it comes at a cost, of course: Spring Framework 6 and Spring Boot 3 based applications will require a minimum of JDK 17 at runtime, as well as a minimum of Tomcat 10 / Jetty 11 (for Jakarta EE 9 compatibility). Even more importantly, there might be some changes required in your application source code: e.g. the javax to jakarta namespace change in Jakarta EE 9 wherever you’re touching the Servlet API, JPA, Bean Validation, etc.

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the Spring Framework team and our contributors, it is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 5.3 is generally available from repo.spring.io as well as Maven Central!

• What’s New in Spring Framework 5.3
• Upgrading to Spring Framework 5.3

Spring Framework 5.3 requires JDK 8 or higher and specifically embraces JDK 15 as the latest OpenJDK release, e.g. with binding support for record classes. As the last feature branch of the 5.x generation, the 5.3.x line is set up for an extended support phase, including JDK 17 LTS next year.

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the development team, it is my pleasure to announce that a feature-complete Spring Framework 5.3 release candidate is available from our milestone repository now! Check out the list of new features and upgrade notes on our GitHub wiki, including several deprecation notes.

As the last feature branch of the 5.x generation, we are preparing the 5.3.x line for general availability in late October - with an extended maintenance phase up until 2024. While we strongly encourage appropriate migration steps, all of our deprecated packages are going to remain in place for the entire 5.3.x phase. In terms of Java platform support, the current range is JDK 8-15 but we expect this to grow into JDK 8-17 for our Spring Framework 5.3.x releases next year.

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the team and everyone who contributed, it is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 5.3 M1 is available from our milestone repository now! Find an initial list of new features and refinements and corresponding upgrade notes including several deprecations on our wiki.

Please note that 5.3 is designed as the final 5.x feature release, wrapping up the major themes in the Spring Framework 5 generation, in particular reactive programming and Kotlin support, while also taking GraalVM compatibility to the next level. Last but not least, we are not only preparing for JDK 15 and 16 but also for next year’s JDK 17 LTS already, expecting an extended 5.3.x maintenance life.

Dear Spring community,

With Spring Framework 5.2.2 and 5.1.12 being available now, let me take the opportunity to provide an update on the maintenance roadmap in 2020.

Most importantly, Spring Framework 4.3.x and therefore Spring Framework 4 overall will reach its end-of-life next year: Our EOL cut-off is December 31st, 2020, with no further support on 4.3.x beyond that point. At the same time, we are also phasing out 5.0.x and 5.1.x for good.

As for planned releases, first up is a full round in mid January: with 5.2.3 and 5.1.13 accompanied by 5.0.16 and 4.3.26. The latter are the last maintenance releases in the 5.0.x and 4.3.x lines. We may do critical patches in case of vulnerabilities but otherwise no further releases are planned in those lines until the final cut-off at the end of 2020.

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the Spring Framework team and many recent contributors, it is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 5.2 is generally available from repo.spring.io as well as Maven Central! Check out our updated docs…

• What’s New in Spring Framework 5.2
• Upgrading to Spring Framework 5.2
• Our revised reference documentation with side by side examples for Java as well Kotlin.

Spring Framework 5.2 requires JDK 8 or higher and specifically supports JDK 11 as the current long-term support branch as well as JDK 13 as the latest OpenJDK release. It comes with many performance improvements (affecting startup time as well as peak performance) and further steps taken towards GraalVM native image support (still experimental).

Dear Spring community,

It is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 5.1.4, 5.0.12 and 4.3.22 are available from repo.spring.io as well as Maven Central now.

5.1.4 is a significant refinement release, addressing several regressions and gaps that have been identified since 5.1 GA, coming as an immediate upgrade for all 5.1.x users.

Please note that 5.0.12 is the last planned 5.0.x release, with 5.0 approaching its EOL in March 2019. All 5.0.x users are encouraged to upgrade to 5.1.4+ for further fixes and refinements.

Dear Spring community,

It is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 5.1 is generally available from repo.spring.io as well as Maven Central now! Check out our recently updated docs…

• What’s New in Spring Framework 5.1
• Upgrading to Spring Framework 5.1
• Our revised reference documentation

Spring Framework 5.1 requires JDK 8 or higher and specifically supports JDK 11 as the next long-term support release. It comes with initial refinements for GraalVM compatibility and deeply integrates with the recently released Reactor Californium and Hibernate ORM 5.3.