Java upgrade plans

[kamransaleem]

The current version of Waltz has a dependency on sparkjava which is on Java 1.8. The desire is to move to Java 17+. Thoughts welcome

[davidwatkins73]

A few options come to mind:

• Stick with Spark and move to either a community fork or maintain our own fork with the fixes required
  • Pros: very easy upgrade, virtually no re-work (and associated risks)
  • Cons: not a well supported framework
• Migrate to Javalin
  • Pros: Similar to Spark (but not identical)/ Well supported (but still trails behind Spring)
  • Cons: Rework/testing still required across all endpoints
• Migrate to Spring Boot/Web
  • Pros: very well supported and widely known
  • Cons: extensive rework/testing would be required

[davidwatkins73]

My personal opinion would be to try option 1 (spark upgrade) first as that gets us to Java 17+. If we still decide that spark is deficient in some regards then the decision to invest in one of the other options becomes more compelling.

[kamransaleem]

Thanks for the input @davidwatkins73

I found the community fork of sparkjava here https://sparkjavateam.github.io/spark/index.html. It looks like they announced they would take over maintenance just last week. Since this is the easiest option, i'll give this a go first.

[kamransaleem]

Got some posiiive result with testing on this. Was able to run on tomcat 9: Java 17 and tomcat 10: java 17

The below has some helpful information on tomcat 9 to tomcat 10 migration, notably javax to jakarta.
https://webtide.com/renaming-from-javax-to-jakarta/

[kamransaleem]

Thanks for the suggestion @meenakshi-saraf-db
How much code impact is a spring-boot migration, what can be done to mitigate risk of an extensive rewrite with regard to testing?

Keen to hear more about your thoughts on dependency, config management impact of using spring-boot and what the impact is on cloud hosting?

[meenakshi-saraf-db]

We are looking to leverage playwright for the API testing to mitigate this impact. Java 17+/ spring boot. Spring boot will help to simplify the dependency management, externalize dependencies ( required for cloud hosting) , spring security, ecosystem of connector libraries, AI integration support for any usecases in future.
Sparx upgrade/ Java17/Tomcat 10* will be the immediate next version of waltz and that will set path for Spring boot migration to remove dependency on the sparx framework fully in the subsequent versions.

[kamransaleem]

hi @meenakshi-saraf-db

Thanks for sharing these details — this sounds like a solid direction overall. I had a few clarifying questions to better understand the scope and impact of the planned changes:

1. Externalizing dependencies for cloud hosting – Could you clarify what this means in practice? Are we talking about moving configuration (DB connections, auth, etc.) out of the codebase into environment-specific external configs, or about modularizing services so that Waltz can integrate more easily with managed cloud components?

2. Ecosystem of connector libraries – When you mention leveraging the Spring Boot ecosystem, do you mean enabling optional integrations (e.g., Kafka, LDAP, OAuth2, or monitoring tools) that can be more easily plugged in via Spring dependencies?

3. AI integration support – Could you expand a bit on what kind of AI use cases are envisioned here? For example, are we thinking about analytics/insight generation within Waltz, or more about providing a framework hook for organizations to connect their own AI services?

4. Impact on existing adopters – Will the upcoming Sparx/Java 17/Tomcat 10 upgrade and later Spring Boot migration be backward-compatible, or should adopters expect some rework in deployment configuration or custom extensions?

Appreciate your insights — this will help align expectations for contributors and adopters preparing for the next versions.

[meenakshi-saraf-db]

hi @meenakshi-saraf-db

Thanks for sharing these details — this sounds like a solid direction overall. I had a few clarifying questions to better understand the scope and impact of the planned changes:

1. Externalizing dependencies for cloud hosting – Could you clarify what this means in practice? Are we talking about moving configuration (DB connections, auth, etc.) out of the codebase into environment-specific external configs, or about modularizing services so that Waltz can integrate more easily with managed cloud components?

• Yes configs / secrets managed by the hosting environments config management service, like GSM .

2. Ecosystem of connector libraries – When you mention leveraging the Spring Boot ecosystem, do you mean enabling optional integrations (e.g., Kafka, LDAP, OAuth2, or monitoring tools) that can be more easily plugged in via Spring dependencies?
   -Yes - that will allow waltz to add connectors for these integrations in future and native support for cloud services integration across multiple cloud providers.

3. AI integration support – Could you expand a bit on what kind of AI use cases are envisioned here? For example, are we thinking about analytics/insight generation within Waltz, or more about providing a framework hook for organizations to connect their own AI services?
   Waltz can tap AI for intelligent discovery having access to most of the data assets in organization - RAG augmented smart search with NLP interface to auto compliance checks.
4. Impact on existing adopters – Will the upcoming Sparx/Java 17/Tomcat 10 upgrade and later Spring Boot migration be backward-compatible, or should adopters expect some rework in deployment configuration or custom extensions?

Spring boot changes will be delivered in waltz2.0 - that will move away from external tomcat to embedded so changes will need to adjust the docker/ deployment config.

Appreciate your insights — this will help align expectations for contributors and adopters preparing for the next versions.

response inline.

[kamransaleem]

@meenakshi-saraf-db

To be clear, Waltz will remain agnostic of any specific cloud vendor? You mentioned specifically Google Secrets Manager ( GCM). however, Waltz has always been able to run on any hosting platform and is not cloud specific. Want to make sure that your direction is considering this.

[kamransaleem]

link issues
#6894
#7172

[kamransaleem]

new PR created, please test #7340

[kamransaleem]

@meenakshi-saraf-db, @davidwatkins73

Some of this appears to be completed - notably Java 17, Tomcat 10.
Can we do a checkpoint here on what is still in progress?

thanks
Kam

[meenakshi-saraf-db]

@meenakshi-saraf-db, @davidwatkins73

Some of this appears to be completed - notably Java 17, Tomcat 10. Can we do a checkpoint here on what is still in progress?

thanks Kam

Yes the changes for waltz master is completed.
Next changes removal of dependency on sparx/ adopt spring web for all end points, spring security, and some more technical enhancements we intend to deliver in waltz2.0 without impacting existing adopters.

[meenakshi-saraf-db]

@meenakshi-saraf-db, @davidwatkins73
Some of this appears to be completed - notably Java 17, Tomcat 10. Can we do a checkpoint here on what is still in progress?
thanks Kam

Yes the changes for waltz master is completed. Next changes removal of dependency on sparx/ adopt spring web for all end points, spring security, and some more technical enhancements we intend to deliver in waltz2.0 without impacting existing adopters.

So we can close this and we will add details with waltz2.0 documentation - which I anticipate by end of this quarter.

[kamransaleem]

I feel from the above comments this is likely to be a "big bang" change. Do you have clarity on what aspects of Waltz are being changed for the above in detail?

[meenakshi-saraf-db]

I feel from the above comments this is likely to be a "big bang" change. Do you have clarity on what aspects of Waltz are being changed for the above in detail?

I feel from the above comments this is likely to be a "big bang" change. Do you have clarity on what aspects of Waltz are being changed for the above in detail
waltz2.0 is a significant shift modernizing backend and UI - It is an internal build now so will talk about details when coming closer to alpha release.