Hi everyone,
The 8.0.0 vote is out, which is is an AWESOME accomplishment.
While that finishes, I want to discuss what we do next, before we spend
time on the wrong branch.
Proposal: do not release an 8.1.x on Spring Boot 4.2 in Q1 2027. Ship
8.0.x, move straight to 9.0.x on Groovy 6 (snapshots already exist), and
pick up Spring Boot 4.2 in a 9.1.x release after that GA is out.
The schedule would look like this:
- 8.0.0 on Spring Boot 4.1 and Groovy 5 - now
- 9.0.0 on Spring Boot 4.1 and Groovy 6 targets late November or early
December. Those snapshots are already running.
- I expect Spring Boot 4.2 GA around Christmas or early January rather
than the usual late November window. 4.1 landed in June, about a month
late. Spring Boot 4.2.0-M2 shipped on 24 September. The 4.2.0-RC1
milestone is 29 of 30 issues closed
(https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/milestone/433). The
4.2.0 GA milestone is open, but Spring has not set a due date
(https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/milestone/434).
- After Spring Boot 4.2 GA, we release 9.1 on top of 9.0 in Q1 2027
- 8.1 stays on the shelf unless we find a real reason to release it.
Two release trains are driving this. We still cut a Grails major when
Spring Boot cuts a major. Groovy now looks like it will cut a major
about once a year, and that will also be a Grails major. I do not think
we should also keep chasing each Spring Boot minor on the old Groovy
line. Cleaner cutoff: a Grails line stays on the Spring Boot minor it
shipped with, and the next Spring Boot minor lands on the new Groovy major.
The merge cost is the main reason to skip an 8.1 release. Spring Boot
4.2 changes will not apply cleanly to the Groovy 6 work already on
9.0.x. They will apply to 9.1, which is where we want them. Doing that
upgrade for an 8.1 release and again for 9.1 is the same work twice.
Those changes might get merged to the wrong line, replayed, or dropped.
We could try to keep lines working on both Spring Boot 4.1 (Grails 8.0.x
and 9.0.x) and 4.2(Grails 8.1.x and 9.1.x), but that is not worth it for
a line most people will leave quickly or skip entirely.
9.0 should be a short release. If it lands in late November or early
December, 9.1 can follow soon after the Spring Boot 4.2 GA in Q1 2027.
Users will likely move to latest Groovy, especially with the performance
boost.
This does not end 8.0.x. Patch releases on 8.0.x continue as usual. The
only question is whether we spend a minor release moving Groovy 5 onto
Spring Boot 4.2.
Does this match what others expect for the next few months?
Reasons that would change my mind: users who cannot move to Groovy 6, a
compatibility promise we have already made, or a merge approach that is
cheaper than it looks.
Thanks,
James Fredley
VP, Apache Grails
PMC Chair
