[grpc-io] gRPC Java v1.44.0 Released

[Ivy Zhuang]

gRPC Java 1.44.0 is released and is available on Maven Central. It will take additional time to be indexed by search.maven.org, but it is in the repository.

https://github.com/grpc/grpc-java/releases/tag/v1.44.0

Java 7 is no longer supported. This release uses Java 8 bytecode, except for grpc-context which remains on Java 7 bytecode. Users requiring Java 7 are encouraged to use the v1.41.x branch. See gRFC P5. Android support remains API level 19+. If this is expected to cause undue hardship or community issues, please contact us via a GitHub issue or grp...@googlegroups.com.

Java 8 users pay note: per gRFC P5, gRPC may drop Java 8 support as soon as March this year. If this is expected to cause undue hardship or community issues, please contact us via a GitHub issue or grp...@googlegroups.com.

API Changes

• Removed deprecated StreamInfo.transportAttrs (#8768)

Bug Fixes

• core: fix a race condition when calling ManagedChannel#enterIdle() (#8761)
• xds: rename ring_hash LB Policy to ring_hash_experimental to comply with gRPC A42: xDS Ring Hash LB Policy (#8776)

Behavior Changes

• Binder: Enclose all operations in BinderTransport even when an exception was thrown. (#8733)*
• Binder: Fix a bug that might cause memory leaks in binder. (#8728)

Dependencies

• Upgraded Protobuf to 3.19.2 to avoid CVE-2021-22569. See the protobuf advisory
• Bump GSON to 2.8.9 (#8759)
• Bump Netty to 4.1.72.Final and tcnative to 2.0.46.Final (#8780)