Juergen Hoeller

Juergen Hoeller

Juergen Hoeller is co-founder of the Spring Framework open source project and has been serving as the project lead and release manager for the core framework since 2003. Juergen is an experienced software architect and consultant with outstanding expertise in code organization, transaction management and enterprise messaging.

Blog posts by Juergen Hoeller

From Spring Framework 6.2 to 7.0

Engineering | October 01, 2024 | ...

Dear Spring community,

Spring Framework 6.2 is shaping up for general availability in November 2024, with particularly significant revisions in the core container and in our web support: see "What's New in Spring Framework 6.2". This release is designed for use with JDK 17-23 and Jakarta EE 9-10.

At the same time, we are planning toward 2025 already, and it is my pleasure to announce that our November 2025 release will be the start of a new major generation: Spring Framework 7.0!

We will upgrade our baseline to Jakarta EE 11 (Tomcat 11, Hibernate ORM 7, Hibernate Validator 9) and embrace the upcoming JDK 25 LTS, while retaining a JDK 17 baseline in alignment with the wider Java ecosystem. For Kotlin applications, we intend to base Spring Framework 7's support on Kotlin 2. Last but not least, our null-safety strategy is converging with the recently released JSpecify

Kicking off the Spring Framework 6.2 milestone phase

Releases | April 11, 2024 | ...

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the core framework team, it is my pleasure to kick off the Spring Framework 6.2 milestone phase: 6.2.0-M1 is available from repo.spring.io/milestone now.

This milestone contains several enhancements in the core container, including a revision of the autowiring algorithm (e.g. for consistent generic type matching and for faster resolution of name-based matches) and a revision of singleton locking (e.g. for background bootstrapping), as well as a range of new features in Spring's testing support. Check out our What's New page for details about the new features…

Support timeline announcement for Spring Framework 6.0.x and 5.3.x

News | March 01, 2024 | ...

Dear Spring community,

As we are preparing for the Spring Framework 6.2 release later this year, it is time to phase out not only the 6.0.x branch but also the 5.3.x line.

We hereby announce that the last 6.0.x and 5.3.x releases will be published in August, with the official end of open source support on August 31, 2024. Along with Spring Framework 5.3.x, the Spring Security project makes the same adjustment for its 5.8.x timeline.

The Spring Framework 5.3.x line has been one of the longest-supported branches in Spring's history and keeps being supported under commercial support terms for another couple of years. You can read more about our commercial releases at https://spring.vmware.com

Spring Framework 6.1 goes GA

Releases | November 16, 2023 | ...

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the core framework team, it is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 6.1.0 is generally available from Maven Central now! The 6.1 generation comes with several key themes:

  • Embracing JDK 21 LTS
  • Virtual Threads (Project Loom)
  • JVM Checkpoint Restore (Project CRaC)
  • Resource Lifecycle Management, revisited
  • Data Binding and Validation, revisited
  • New RestClient and JdbcClient APIs

Virtual Threads are a perfect fit for Spring MVC on a lean Servlet stack (typically on Tomcat), providing a new degree of scalability with imperative programming in common web…

Spring Framework 6.1 M1 released

Releases | June 15, 2023 | ...

Dear Spring community,

On behalf of the core framework team, it is my pleasure to announce that the first Spring Framework 6.1 milestone release is available from repo.spring.io/milestone now. This release introduces the main themes for the 6.1 generation, with initial features for all themes present in 6.1.0-M1 already:

  • Embracing JDK 21 LTS
  • Virtual Threads (Project Loom)
  • JVM Checkpoint Restore (Project CRaC)
  • Data Binding and Validation, revisited

Note that Spring Framework 6.1 provides a first-class experience on JDK 21 and Jakarta EE 10 at runtime while retaining a JDK 17 and Jakarta EE…

Spring Framework 6.0 goes GA

Releases | November 16, 2022 | ...

Dear Spring community,

It is my pleasure to announce that Spring Framework 6.0.0 is generally available from Maven Central now! This is the start of a new framework generation for 2023 and beyond, embracing current and upcoming innovations in OpenJDK and the Java ecosystem. At the same time, we carefully designed it as a straightforward upgrade from Spring Framework 5.3.x for modern-day runtime environments.

As a major revision of the core framework, Spring Framework 6.0 comes with a Java 17+ baseline and a move to Jakarta EE 9+ (in the jakarta namespace), with a focus on the recently released Jakarta EE 10 APIs such as Servlet 6.0 and JPA 3.1. This provides access to the latest web containers such as Tomcat 10.1 and the latest persistence providers such as Hibernate ORM 6.1. Don't be stuck on Java EE 8, make the leap to the jakarta

Spring Framework 6.0 goes RC1

Releases | October 12, 2022 | ...

Dear Spring community,

It is my pleasure to announce that a feature-complete Spring Framework 6.0 release candidate is available now! We are expecting a further release candidate in time for the first Spring Boot 3.0 release candidate next week, and then our final releases for general availability in November.

As a major revision of the core framework, 6.0 RC1 comes with a Java 17+ baseline, a move to Jakarta EE 9+ (in the jakarta namespace superseding the former javax based EE APIs), and a broader infrastructure revision. This provides access to the latest web containers such as Tomcat 10 / Jetty 11 and the latest persistence providers such as Hibernate ORM 6.1 - all of which are exclusively available with the jakarta-namespaced variants of the Servlet API and JPA. It also sets the stage for the further evolution of those…

An update on Java 17+ adoption

Engineering | March 28, 2022 | ...

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…

Spring Framework 6.0 M1 released

Releases | December 16, 2021 | ...

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/

A Java 17 and Jakarta EE 9 baseline for Spring Framework 6

Engineering | September 02, 2021 | ...

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

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