Java News Roundup: New OpenJDK JEPs, CDI 5.0, Spring, Open Liberty, RefactorFirst, ADK for Kotlin

Java news roundup for September 7th, 2026 highlights several updates and releases across various Java technologies.

New JEPs for ahead-of-time compilation and structured concurrency have been elevated to Candidate status. Ahead-of-time code compilation (JEP 544) aims to improve application startup and warmup time with optimized native code when the HotSpot JVM starts. Structured concurrency (JEP 543) streamlines concurrent programming by treating groups of related tasks as a single unit of work, enhancing error handling, cancellation, reliability, and observability.

Jakarta CDI 5.0 and ADK for Kotlin 1.0 have been released as GA (General Availability). CDI 5.0 is the first specification targeting Jakarta EE 12, playing a central role in the Jakarta EE Platform. ADK for Kotlin 1.0 marks the first version of the ADK for Kotlin.

Open Liberty 26.0.0.9 has been released with bug fixes, resolutions to CVEs, and notable changes such as the elevation of the MCP Server feature from experimental to GA and the implementation of the OAuth 2.0 Protected Resource Metadata specification.

Micronaut Framework has released versions 5.1.5 and 5.1.4, addressing CVEs and upgrading dependencies, particularly Netty to 4.2.18.Final.

Apache Groovy 6.0.0 is set to be released with bug fixes, dependency upgrades, and new features like a new @GroovyABI annotation and an improved JsonSlurper class.

RefactorFirst, a utility for prioritizing application refactoring, has been updated to version 0.10.0, providing support for JDK 17 and Kotlin source file processing.

These updates aim to enhance performance, reliability, security, and developer experience across the Java ecosystem.