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michelle sebek
michelle sebek

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Spring Application Advisor 1.4: Windows Support, Java 21 Recommendations and Smarter Migration Paths

#java #devops #spring #development

🚀

As developers, we've all been there—staring at a legacy Spring application that desperately needs modernization, but the upgrade path feels like navigating a minefield. Should you tackle Spring Boot 3.x first? What about that ancient Spring Security OAuth setup? And don't get me started on Java version compatibility across your entire codebase.

Spring Application Advisor 1.4 just dropped (August 8, 2025), and it's packed with features that solve the real problems we face during application modernization. Let's dive into what's new and why it matters for your daily development workflow.

🪟 Finally, First-Class Windows Support 

# Now works seamlessly on Windows!
spring-app-advisor analyze --path ./my-spring-app
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If you've been stuck in a Windows development environment while watching your macOS and Linux colleagues enjoy smooth Spring modernization tools, your wait is over. The advisor now runs natively on Windows with full feature parity.

Why this matters: No more spinning up Docker containers or WSL just to run modernization analysis. Your CI/CD pipelines can now include modernization checks regardless of your build environment. Plus, enterprise teams with Windows-heavy infrastructure can finally standardize on the same tooling.

☕ Smart Java Version Recommendations

The new advice command now includes intelligent Java upgrade suggestions:

spring-app-advisor advice --path ./my-app

# Output example:
✅ Recommendation: Upgrade to Java 21
   - Current: Java 17
   - Benefits: Virtual threads, pattern matching improvements, performance gains
   - Compatibility: ✅ All dependencies support Java 21
   - Estimated effort: Low
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Developer experience win: Instead of manually checking compatibility matrices and changelogs, you get actionable recommendations with effort estimates. The tool analyzes your dependency graph and identifies potential blockers before you start the upgrade.

🔄 Migration Framework for Legacy Dependencies

This is where things get really interesting. Version 1.4 introduces a migration system that handles complex dependency transitions:

# Example: Automatic migration mapping
spring-security-oauth2 → spring-security-oauth2-resource-server
spring-security-jwt → spring-security-oauth2-jose
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The advisor now understands that some libraries aren't just "upgraded"—they need to be migrated to entirely different artifacts. The Spring Security OAuth to Spring Security 6.x transition is fully automated now.

Real-world impact: Remember spending days figuring out how to migrate from the deprecated @EnableOAuth2Sso to the new security DSL? The advisor handles these complex transitions automatically, generating the necessary configuration changes and dependency updates.

🔧 Auto-Generated Build Configuration

Here's a quality-of-life improvement that's going to save you hours:

spring-app-advisor upgrade --generate-build-config
# Automatically creates missing build files
# Applies upgrades
# Cleans up temporary files
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The problem it solves: You're working with a project that has incomplete or missing build configuration, but you still want to run upgrade analysis. Previously, you'd have to manually create Maven/Gradle files. Now the advisor generates them on-demand and cleans up afterward.

📦 Squash Multiple Upgrade Steps

New --squash flag lets you consolidate upgrade operations:

# Instead of multiple commits for each step
spring-app-advisor upgrade --squash --target spring-boot:3.2.0

# Results in a single, comprehensive changeset
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Git workflow friendly: Perfect for teams that prefer atomic commits or need to align upgrades with sprint boundaries. You can still see individual steps in the planning phase but apply them as a single operation.

🔐 Enhanced Spring Security 6.x Recipes

The recipe system now includes comprehensive Spring Security modernization:

// Old (automatically detected and flagged)
@EnableWebSecurity
@EnableGlobalMethodSecurity(prePostEnabled = true)
public class SecurityConfig extends WebSecurityConfigurerAdapter {
    // deprecated patterns
}

// New (automatically suggested)
@Configuration
@EnableWebSecurity
@EnableMethodSecurity
public class SecurityConfig {
    @Bean
    public SecurityFilterChain filterChain(HttpSecurity http) {
        // modern configuration
    }
}
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🎯 Better Error Handling and Visibility

Version 1.4 includes improved diagnostics:

spring-app-advisor plan --show-excluded-artifacts

# Output shows exactly what's blocking your upgrade
⚠️  Excluded artifacts preventing upgrade:
   - com.example:legacy-lib:1.0 (no compatible version found)
   - org.springframework:spring-web:4.3.21 (conflicts with target Spring Boot version)
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Debugging made easier: When upgrades fail or get blocked, you now get clear visibility into what's causing the issue instead of cryptic error messages.

🏗️ Enterprise Recipe Repository

For teams using Tanzu Platform, there's now a dedicated Maven repository with advanced recipes:

<repository>
    <id>tanzu-recipes</id>
    <url>https://packages.broadcom.com/tanzu/recipes</url>
</repository>
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These include platform-specific patterns like JAXRS modernization and advanced enterprise integration patterns.

Getting Started

If you're already using Spring Application Advisor:

# Update to latest version
curl -sSL https://get.spring-app-advisor.com | bash

# Verify version
spring-app-advisor --version
# Should show 1.4.0
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New to the tool? Check out the getting started guide.

Real Talk: Why This Matters

Look, modernization tooling often feels like it's built by people who haven't actually done the grunt work of upgrading a 5-year-old Spring Boot app with 47 dependencies and questionable architectural decisions.

Spring Application Advisor 1.4 feels different. The Windows support isn't just a checkbox feature—it's recognition that developers work in diverse environments. The migration framework tackles the hard problems (like OAuth transitions) that usually require deep Spring Security expertise. The build config generation eliminates those annoying setup friction points.

These aren't flashy features, but they're the kind of improvements that make the difference between a tool you try once and abandon versus one that becomes part of your regular workflow.

What's Next?

The team is clearly listening to developer feedback and solving real problems. With enterprise adoption growing and more migration patterns being codified, expect to see more language-specific recipes and advanced transformation capabilities in future releases.

Have you tried Spring Application Advisor 1.4 yet? What modernization challenges are you hoping future versions will tackle? Drop a comment below—I'd love to hear about your experiences with Spring application modernization!

Want to see more content like this? Follow me for more Spring ecosystem updates and practical development tips. And if you're working on large-scale Spring modernization projects, definitely check out what Tanzu Platform can do for your team.

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