Haiku Depot Server technology modernisation

Java technology has been moving forward much faster in recent years with more frequent updates. Java 17 Long Term Support (LTS) was introduced in September 2021 and will be followed by Java 21 LTS in September 2023.

With HaikuDepotServer (HDS) still on Java 11 introduced in September 2018, it was time to upgrade to 17 and then also make the transition from Spring 5 to SpringBoot 3 which was released in November 2022. Spring is a base technology for SpringBoot with SpringBoot providing more configuration and functionality by convention.

These upgrades will bring HDS up to date with the current state of the art in backend Java and allow HDS to be maintained more easily going forward.

An interesting look at the steps taken during this upgrade process. There's also a brand new Haiku activity report with tons and tons of fixes, new features, and updates.