Maven Plugins Compatibility Plan

Scope

This page describes the system requirements plan, which consists of:

1. minimum Java runtime prerequisite for Maven plugins, which can be extended to shared components,
2. minimum Maven runtime prerequisite for plugins.

Such requirements are displayed as "System Requirements" in every plugin info report (see this example).

Consolidated view for all LATEST plugins release is visible in a daily generated report.

Maven Plan

• Until 2012, Maven 2.2.1 + Java 5 prerequisites, with plugins versions in 2.x
• Since 2012, Maven 3.0 + Java 7 prerequisites, with plugins in 3.x.y
• Since June 2020, Maven Plugin API used by plugins >= 3.1.0 + Java 8 prerequisites Technical details
• In March 2023, Maven before 3.2.5 has been marked as EOL, meaning that plugins should use 3.2.5 as minimum

Context

• Maven core history with Java prerequisite is available in the release notes
• JDK/JRE availability dates:
  • Java 5 (2004) is closed source, End of Public Update in 2009
  • Java 6 (2006) is Open Source, maintained at OpenJDK until 2018
  • Java 7 (2011) is Open Source, maintained at OpenJDK at least until June 2020
  • Java 8 (2014) is Open Source, maintained at OpenJDK at least until September 2023
  • Java 11 (LTS, 2018) is Open Source, maintained at OpenJDK at least until September 2025
  • see Java Version Almanac for updated JDK releases

  see also Java Is Still Free for more details