+1   Good call, I think that would cover the only realistic scenario we’d want 
to go back and make sensible release of an inactive release stream. 

In summary:

1. Announce Feb 28th 2027 end of active for 5.19.x
2. Leave ourselves an option to do for emergency (ie Log4shell, OpenWire 
security vulnerability, etc)


> On Aug 22, 2026, at 10:41 AM, Christopher Shannon 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Also, if we do announce the 6 month thing, we could still leave open
> the option for "emergency" releases. We have done that in the past, I
> just wouldn't want to promise anything or have anyone count on more
> fixes.
> 
> Chris
> 
> On Sat, Aug 22, 2026 at 10:21 AM Christopher Shannon
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>> I am ok with 4-6 months but am -1 on doing something longer and I plan
>> to -1 any releases after that.
>> 
>> At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much time we give because
>> whatever the timeline is, some people will just wait until the last
>> second to do the work to upgrade so we need to cut it off.
>> 
>> JDK 17 has been out for 5 years and Jakarta has been out for longer,
>> It's more than past time to move on.
>> 
>> On Fri, Aug 21, 2026 at 3:03 PM Matt Pavlovich <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I agree it is a good time to announce a planned end of ‘active’ status to 
>>> 5.19.x
>>> 
>>> As you mentioned, this opens up the ability to start using JDK 17 features 
>>> and beyond.
>>> (Virtual Threads and the JAAS change is really going to drive us to a JDK 
>>> 25 baseline runtime anyway)
>>> 
>>> As far as timeframe, end of year would put it at 4mos. Going up to 6 mos 
>>> may be something to consider (ie Feb 28 2027).
>>> 
>>> In this thread (or another), JB mentioned perhaps doing a longer 5.19.x 
>>> active status since this will be the last of the javax.jms supported client 
>>> to balance not releasing a javax.jms client in the 6.x tree. Per the Azul 
>>> report ~ 38% of enterprises still running JDK 8 and 11 (ref: 
>>> https://keyholesoftware.com/java-trends-2026/)
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Matt
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 21, 2026, at 7:31 AM, Christopher Shannon 
>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> It sounds like everyone is on the same page to say that 5.19.x is not
>>>> active anymore going forward, so I think we can go ahead and announce
>>>> that and update the website, etc. This also means it should be safe to
>>>> start using JDK 17 features finally, like updated switch statements or
>>>> intanceof pattern matching as we won't be backporting.
>>>> 
>>>> Because our web site still says that 5.19.x is stable and we haven't
>>>> actually announced that 5.19.x will stop being supported, I think it
>>>> makes sense to provide a short period of time for important/security
>>>> updates still.
>>>> 
>>>> I'm proposing until the end of the year for 5.19.x. I think we could
>>>> announce that we will provide patch releases for 5.19.x that include
>>>> major bug fixes (should be rare or non-existent) and security fixes
>>>> (including dependency updates) until Dec 31st, 2026 and then we will
>>>> cut it off. This shouldn't be a lot of work as we'd only be
>>>> backporting limited stuff and I wouldn't expect many releases but that
>>>> also just depends on security reports.
>>>> 
>>>> Ultimately, we just have to cut it off at some point because if you
>>>> don't give a deadline then some people just won't ever upgrade.
>>>> 
>>>> Chris
>>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 4:35 PM Christopher Shannon
>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> So now that 6.3.x is out are we good to stop supporting 5.19.x? I
>>>>> personally have no desire to release anymore versions and think
>>>>> we can cut it off.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Also, I think 6.2.9 will be the last of the 6.2.x series, users can
>>>>> move to 6.3.x going forward.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 7:57 AM Jean-Louis Monteiro
>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Back from vacation, hopefully not to late for feedback.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Thanks Chris for bringing the discussion up. I agree that we should now
>>>>>> favor 6.x and set the EOL date for 5.x
>>>>>> As JB mentioned, I don't think there is a need to shade the client jar to
>>>>>> bring it to javax namespace. The client is thin and selfcontained pretty
>>>>>> much and there aren't any CVEs usually affecting it directly. So using an
>>>>>> old javax client is fine with me.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> So I'm +1 as well
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hopefully that should give contributors some cycles to work on the 
>>>>>> project
>>>>>> features as opposed to backporting and doing releases on old versions.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Jean-Louis Monteiro
>>>>>> http://twitter.com/jlouismonteiro
>>>>>> http://www.tomitribe.com
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 17, 2026 at 11:03 PM Jamie G. <[email protected]> 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I think the direction is reasonable. +1
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 17, 2026 at 10:37 Christopher Shannon <
>>>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Does anyone else have anymore thoughts on this?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2026 at 8:29 AM Christopher Shannon
>>>>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Hi JB,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> That's fine with me to only support Jakarta, as I said in my email
>>>>>>>>> that's my preference. I don't really want to support javax at all in
>>>>>>>>> 6.x and I'm in favor of dropping it, I just brought it up as an option
>>>>>>>>> to see what others think.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I think it's reasonable for people to just use the 5.x client because
>>>>>>>>> the client has very few dependencies and doesn't change often.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I think once 6.3.0 is out we should no longer be backporting anything
>>>>>>>>> new to 5.19.x, i.e. no new flags or features or anything. All of that
>>>>>>>>> needs to stop. Anything backported going forward should be limited
>>>>>>>>> strictly to bug fixes and then further reduce it to only important
>>>>>>>>> security fixes at some point. But as soon as we drop it entirely I
>>>>>>>>> think the better because it's holding up modernization.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2026 at 12:28 AM Jean-Baptiste Onofré 
>>>>>>>>> <[email protected]
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Hi
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I think we discussed that in the past and the plan (as I recall) was
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>>> stop working on 5.19.x when 6.3.0 will be out.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I don't think we still need to support the javax client because:
>>>>>>>> people can
>>>>>>>>>> still use the latest 5.19.x version, even if it's not active, the
>>>>>>>> artifacts
>>>>>>>>>> are still available for use.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Personally, I would just announce that 5.19.x is not active anymore,
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>>>> people have to use 6.x.
>>>>>>>>>> If we still provide javax support on 6.x (with another project),
>>>>>>> users
>>>>>>>> will
>>>>>>>>>> just stay with it forever.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I would rather propose the following:
>>>>>>>>>> 1. 5.19.x won't be active anymore when 6.3.0 will be out. I'm fine to
>>>>>>>> give
>>>>>>>>>> more time (up to 6.4.0 for instance), but not javax support in 6.x.
>>>>>>>>>> 2. users can still use javax / 5.19.x
>>>>>>>>>> 3. focus on the 6.x series
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I think 6.3.0 is pretty close (I'm resuming several working items for
>>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>>>>> release). Jetty 12 is still needed. Matt is working on it: if we
>>>>>>> don't
>>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>>>>> it soon, I will give a hand on that.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> So -1 for javax client, simply.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>>>>> JB
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2026 at 7:40 PM Christopher Shannon <
>>>>>>>>>> [email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> I think it's time to discuss a timeline to officially end support
>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>>>>> 5.19.x and all other 5.x releases.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> There are many reasons for EOL including:
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> 1. Security: Because 5.x is still using javax we are unable to
>>>>>>>> upgrade
>>>>>>>>>>> many important dependencies. This includes Jetty and Spring so
>>>>>>> every
>>>>>>>>>>> release has dependencies shipped with lots of CVEs.
>>>>>>>>>>> 2. We are unable to migrate to modern language features in JDK 17+
>>>>>>>>>>> (like switch statement) because 5.19.x supports JDK 11.
>>>>>>>>>>> 3. It's a lot of extra work to keep having to backport and perform
>>>>>>>>>>> releases for 5.x
>>>>>>>>>>> 4. It's just time to move on and modernize. Jakarta has been around
>>>>>>>>>>> since 2019 at this point.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> So we just need to pick a time frame and publish when we will stop
>>>>>>>>>>> supporting it. I would prefer to keep the timeframe relatively
>>>>>>> short,
>>>>>>>>>>> maybe 6 months or something.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> While I would prefer to only support Jakarta, I know that clients
>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>>>>>> often the last to be upgraded and can take longer. So if it helps
>>>>>>>>>>> migration we could easily add a project to generate a javax client
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>>>>>> 6.x (essentially the opposite of what we did in 5.x). We can just
>>>>>>> use
>>>>>>>>>>> maven to repackage it. Also, if we do that we could change the
>>>>>>> target
>>>>>>>>>>> JDK to version 11 only for the client (we don't use any new
>>>>>>> language
>>>>>>>>>>> features anyways). This would at least allow people with older JDKs
>>>>>>>>>>> and on javax to still get updates for the client only while we move
>>>>>>>>>>> the broker forward.
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> Chris
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> 
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>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
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>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>> 
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