Hi Elliotte, You mentioned that you are trying to upgrade but it seems the problem is not updating Maven itself, but updating the Docker images and/or CI infrastructure, that doesn't look like an issue with Maven, and in any case, for a legacy project that doesn't care to maintain or update Maven, what is the point of updating in the first place? They are working fine with an old release and as Slawomir mentioned the best and easier way is to not touch dependencies and use it as is with old (current) infrastructure.
For instance, if the problem with updating is that they are using Java 7, Maven will be the least of the issues, they are using an EOL Java version anyway so they should care less about using an EOL Maven version (keep in mind that Maven 3.5.x is EOL) if large organizations (especially large tech companies) require "maintenance" for such older versions, they should pay for it, Maven developers do a fantastic job by contributing to Maven as volunteers, so if large companies depend on open-source projects, they could at least financially contribute back. In any case, what kind of support do you expect? Maven 3.5.x won't get a new release or bug fix (at least I think not by the current maintainers) because is simply EOL, the decision to "require" Maven 3.6.3 affects mostly plugins, and most plugins have moved to Java 8 anyway, so for a Java 7 project most plugins won't work even on Maven 3.8.8. I'm assuming Java 7 to illustrate the point of one potential issue, as updating Maven from 3.5 to 3.6 (or even the latest version) should be straightforward, but if updating Docker images or the CI infra is a hassle, even if that version was still maintained, the problem would be there, not on maven. So, yes 3.5 is dead. Regards, On Sat, Apr 13, 2024 at 1:22 PM Elliotte Rusty Harold <elh...@ibiblio.org> wrote: > Maybe it should be, but I wanted to drop a note that about a month > after December's decision to require Maven 3.6.3, I shifted onto an > open source project that's been around for 10+ years, is actively > backed by two large tech companies, and still depends on Maven 3.5.x > in the continuous integration build. Bleah. > > I've been trying to upgrade it, but so far without success. 3.5 seems > baked pretty deeply into the Docker images or some other part of the > CI infrastructure that isn't easy to change. This project could well > be using Maven 3.5 for years to come. It's even possible we will > rewrite the whole codebase in C++ before we manage to get past Maven > 3.5. (I wish that was hyperbole. It's not.) > > I think we tend to overestimate how fast the installed base updates, > whether it's JDKs (I got a bug report from someone still using Java 7 > yesterday), Maven versions, operating systems, or pretty much anything > else. None of us see more than a small fraction of the projects out > there. It is very easy to look at that small fraction and draw > conclusions that are falsified with a larger or different sample. > > I didn't know about this dependence on Maven 3.5 until I changed > projects in January. I haven't seen 3.3 lately, but I wouldn't be > surprised if it's still in use in multiple organizations, perhaps > because it's what's installed by default in some old Linux distro that > should also be retired but isn't. Absence of evidence is not evidence > of absence, including when considering which Maven versions developers > actively use. > > -- > Elliotte Rusty Harold > elh...@ibiblio.org > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@maven.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@maven.apache.org > >
