uPortal 6 Update for April 11

[Benito Gonzalez]

Hi folks,

Now that we have time to work on the next major release, I wanted to provide a list of what we are targeting to deliver for uP6:

1. Update uPortal and community portlets to use Java 21

2. Upgrade Gradle to v8

3. Upgrade Tomcat to v11

4. Update JavaScript tooling and checks to support ES6

5. Define and refactor a consistent, modern approach for APIs

These are big changes to modernize uPortal. Combined, we can address some dependencies that are blocked by using an older Java version. We also want to leverage some of the newer language features that Java provides. And, of course, JavaScript should not be constrained to older idioms.

Based on current contributor trends and our resources available, we expect those targets to put us at a summer release of uP6 -- this is still aggressive. As a community we should discuss whether we prioritize a release deadline or a feature set target.

Here's a list of other items we would love to also tackle; however, they are certainly bigger changes that will slip into uPortal 7. I am sharing them so you know we have considered them as well.

1. Revamp frontend frameworks -- this is definitely an impact on UI work

2. Modularize code base -- would improve speed of development

3. Update Spring -- constrained by the lack of portlet support

4. Migrate Hibernate to JPA -- 25 years of different approaches to persistence

Now, these priorities are not set in stone. We are open to conversations about your priorities and needs as we move forward. We have reached these lists based on feedback and conversations with community members.

Have a great weekend!

- B

--

Benito J. Gonzalez

Software Architect

Unicon, Inc.

209.777.2754

Email:  bgon...@unicon.net

GitHub:  bjagg

GitLab:  bjagg

BitBucket:  bgon...@unicon.net

[nikolaid...@gmail.com]

Thank you very much for this update!

I would like to ask the following for clarification / confirmation:

• As Tomcat 11 and legacy portlets (JSR-286) are incompatible, then it would seem that support for such portlets is being dropped in uP6.
• Are web components envisaged to be the alternative? And if so, is there still scope to use Lit for those (remembering a conversation of a few years back now...)?
• Or would soffits be considered as best alternatives for legacy portlets?
• Is the API modernisation (part of uP6) meant to be a transitional phase toward uP7 going fully RESTful?
• Re Bootstrap/Respondr, is there a plan to upgrade Bootstrap? Which uP version is it more likely to fall under?

• Likewise, in following a more OIDC approach, would that be closer to uP7?

Following on from that, some observations:
uPortal already exposes a number of APIs, providing an important foundation. I understand the need to build on and expand on them, likely converting all user-facing features to consistent, token-based REST APIs (?). I can see that assuming portlets are removed in uP6, then whatever the alternative content delivery mechanism (be it soffits, or web components) can start becoming API consumers and there might also be potential to lay groundwork for OIDC support and JPA migration, and / or introduce Bootstrap 5+ (?)
That'll then nicely fit in with features earmarked for uP7, modularising the codebase, continuing JPA migration, updating Spring,... uPortal likely becoming RESTful, changing over identity & access management (if going OIDC), moving to a fully decoupled UI layer etc.

Re timeframes, I suppose that it's realistic to start uP6 with Java 21 & Tomcat 11 upgrades, Gradle & JS toolchain updates and by stripping out portlet framework? I assume there'll be minor releases to capture the rest (API work, soffit / web componennt work, maybe JWT, Bootstrap)?

Thank you again and looking forward to hearing more thoughts on this.

--Thalia

[Benito Gonzalez]

Thank you, Thalia, for the feedback and the side chat. Given our time and resources, we do need to be a little more judicious. Here is the updated targets for uP6:

1. Update uPortal and community portlets to use Java 17

2. Upgrade Gradle to v8

3. Upgrade Tomcat to v9

4. Update JavaScript tooling and checks to support ES6

5. Define and refactor a consistent, modern approach for APIs

By pulling back to Tomcat 9 we do not have to worry about the change from "javax" to "jarkarta" packages in Tomcat. The portlet library does not support the new package names. This will likely mean that the next major release of uPortal (v7) will no longer support portlets. uPortal v6 will support portets.

We will continue to update you on progress.

Have a great weekend!

-bjagg