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Skillsjava-upgrade

java-upgrade

Coding & development

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Updated 10-15 17:22

About this skill

Java Runtime/Framework Upgrade + Containerisation

Primary objective: upgrade a Java service to the latest Java LTS the stack supports (target the newest LTS — e.g. Java 25; fall back to 21 or 17 only if a dependency blocks it), including any needed framework upgrade, and run it as a container on the target platform (ECS/EKS or another the user specifies), containerising only if it isn't already. Decomposition is a stretch target handled separately (see the AI-DLC workflow). Region, platform, and tooling are discovered/decided via the Environment, Region & Tooling section of the AI-DLC workflow.

When to Load Reference Files

If the task involves… Load
A managed transformation service is NOT available/approved and you must upgrade with language-native tooling — the grouped, atomic, correctly-sequenced, build-verified path references/prescriptive-language-native-upgrade.md

For the behaviour-first regression safety net that de-risks the version jump, use the regression-testing skill; use web-test-automation if the service has a web/UI surface.

Phase 0 — Assessment (brownfield, run first)

  • Detect build tool (Maven vs Gradle), current JDK target, module layout, framework & library versions.
  • Determine the highest Java LTS the frameworks/libraries support today (e.g. Spring Boot 3.x supports Java 17–25) → set target to the newest supported LTS (25 preferred), or 21/17 as fallback.
  • Inventory the Java-version risk surface (below).
  • Determine container status (already containerised or not) and current deploy model.
  • Measure codebase scale — LOC (total/app/test), module count, per-module size, and dependency shape (jdeps fan-in/out). This decides the execution strategy: small ⇒ one-shot; large (e.g. 500k LOC) ⇒ dependency-ordered waves, never one-shot (see "Scaling the upgrade" below).
  • Capture the behaviour baseline for the regression net (regression-testing skill).
  • Discover environment/region/tooling (Environment, Region & Tooling section of the AI-DLC workflow) — including whether any preferred or mandated upgrade tooling exists.

The upgrade — tooling

First, resolve the tooling gate (Environment, Region & Tooling section of the AI-DLC workflow): is a managed transformation service (e.g. AWS Transform) permitted for this engagement?

  • If a managed transformation service IS permitted and the user chooses it — use it.
  • If it is NOT available/approved — follow the prescriptive language-native path in references/prescriptive-language-native-upgrade.md: a grouped, atomic, correctly-sequenced upgrade where the build must pass at the end of every group (Build-system readiness → Jakarta migration → Database/ORM → Core deps → Spring ecosystem → Final integration). The tools below are what that path uses.

Default to language-native tooling; if the user has another preferred/mandated tool, honour it.

  • OpenRewrite — apply the latest UpgradeToJava recipe for the target LTS (e.g. UpgradeToJava25, or UpgradeToJava21/UpgradeToJava17 if falling back), stepping through 11/17/21 as intermediate baselines if needed, via the Maven/Gradle plugin. Also run framework recipes (e.g. Spring Boot 2→3 / javax→jakarta).
  • jdeps — analyse dependencies on internal/removed JDK APIs and module boundaries.
  • jdeprscan — scan for deprecated/removed APIs against the target LTS baseline.
  • Toolchain / build upgrades — bump the Maven/Gradle JDK toolchain and compiler release to the target LTS; upgrade plugins/dependencies to compatible versions and clear known CVEs.

Scaling the upgrade (large codebases)

Codebase size dictates how the upgrade is sequenced — measured in Phase 0. Treat the LOC bands as heuristics; real module coupling matters more than the raw number.

Tier Rough size Approach
Small < ~50k LOC, few modules One-shot — run the full group sequence across the whole codebase; single PR.
Medium ~50k–200k LOC Batched — run the group sequence but build/test and commit per group; split the PR by group/layer.
Large > ~200k LOC / many modules Wave-based, dependency-ordered — do NOT one-shot. Upgrade module-by-module: foundational/shared modules (high fan-in) first, then dependents, leaf apps last.

For wave-based upgrades:

  • Repeat the whole group sequence per wave (Build-system → Jakarta → DB/ORM → core deps → Spring → integration); each wave must build + pass tests + prove regression parity + pass the local-runtime checkpoint, then merge as its own PR/MR before the next wave starts.
  • Keep the system building throughout — compile foundational modules at the target LTS while dependents still target the old baseline where the toolchain allows, or hold a javax↔jakarta shim at module seams until all waves land.
  • Parallelise independent modules on separate branches; serialise anything touching shared modules.
  • Order the waves from the jdeps dependency graph; concentrate the highest-risk modules (heavy javax/reflection/JDK-internal usage) into their own carefully-reviewed waves.

Why not one-shot a 500k-LOC upgrade? Hundreds of simultaneous breakages, an unreviewable diff, and no clean commit to bisect a regression against. Waves keep every step green, reviewable, and revertable.

Common Java 8 → 17/21/25 breakages to check and plan for

  • Removed javax.* Java EE / JAXB / JAX-WS modules (java.xml.bind, java.activation, javax.annotation) — add explicit deps (Jakarta/GlassFish JAXB) or migrate to jakarta.*.
  • Strong encapsulation of JDK internals (JEP 396/403) — sun.misc.Unsafe / reflective access to jdk.internal.* fails; find --add-opens/--add-exports needs or upgrade the offending library.
  • Nashorn JavaScript engine removed (JEP 372) — replace with GraalJS if used.
  • TLS / security defaults changed — TLS 1.3 default, stricter certificate handling, changed cipher suites; re-validate mutual-TLS and truststores (critical for auth/security-sensitive services).
  • Serialization / reflection — tightened access; verify Jackson/Hibernate/etc. are on target-LTS-compatible versions.
  • Garbage collector & flags — CMS removed; default is G1 (ZGC/Shenandoah available on newer LTS). Re-tune JVM flags and container memory settings.
  • Security Manager deprecated for removal (JEP 411) — check for SecurityManager reliance.
  • Language changes (record, sealed, pattern matching, virtual threads on 21+) — mostly additive; re-run the full regression suite.

Containerisation arc (after the upgrade compiles & tests green)

Skip authoring a new Dockerfile if the service is already containerised — in that case update the base image to the target LTS and re-validate.

  1. Base image — a supported JDK runtime image for the target LTS (e.g. Amazon Corretto 25, or a distroless Java image). Multi-stage build (JDK build → slim JRE), non-root user.
  2. Config & secrets — externalise config; secrets via a managed secret store (e.g. SSM Parameter Store / Secrets Manager), injected at runtime, never baked into the image.
  3. Compute target — decision gate (validate regional availability via AWS Knowledge MCP):
    • ECS Fargate — lowest operational overhead for a single service. Activate ecs-architect / ecs-security / ecs-observability / ecs-devops.
    • EKS — if the org standardises on Kubernetes; author manifests/Helm instead of ECS task defs. The container/IaC/IAM/observability skills still apply.
    • Other platform — if the user specifies one, adapt accordingly.
  4. IaC — decision gate: Terraform (ecs-build) vs CloudFormation (aws-cloudformation) vs another permitted tool — record the choice.
  5. Region — deploy in the user's target/allowed region; confirm all chosen services/features are available there (AWS Knowledge MCP), applying the region-fallback gate in the Environment, Region & Tooling section of the AI-DLC workflow if not.

Regression safety net (de-risk the jump)

Prove behaviour parity before merging: use the regression-testing skill for a behaviour-first suite that survives the version jump, and web-test-automation if the service has a web/UI surface. Wire the suite into the discovered CI/CD pipeline so the PR/MR gate is meaningful.

Definition of done

  • Service compiles and all tests pass on the target Java LTS (25, or 21/17 if constrained).
  • Framework upgraded as required; behaviour parity demonstrated against the pre-upgrade baseline.
  • Running as a container on the chosen platform in the target region via the chosen IaC tool (containerisation authored only if it wasn't already).
  • Change raised as a PR/MR on the discovered VCS, verified through the discovered CI/CD pipeline; linked to the requirement/tracker item.
  • Every decision (target LTS, framework path, platform, region, IaC tool, any tooling gate) recorded in aidlc-docs/audit.md.
  • Decomposition not performed as part of the primary objective — optionally noted as a stretch/next step.