The GeoServer team is pleased to announce the release of GeoServer 2.9-beta2. The previous 2.9-beta discovered an incompatibility with Java 8, resulting in a bit of emergency planning and a delay to the 2.9.0 release schedule.

Download bundles are available (zip, war, dmg and exe). A reminder that beta releases are intended for public feedback and are not recommended for production use.

Highlights:

  • This release requires Java 8 and is compatible with Oracle JDK and OpenJDK

  • GeoServer now requires Servlet 3 (so Tomcat 7 or newer if you are doing a WAR install)

  • Negative-date now supported (for GeoNode compatibility)

  • New REST API for installation status

  • For more information check the release notes for beta2 (history beta1 M0)
  • Update to Spring 4 and JAI-EXT to 1.0.9

This 2.9-beta2 release is released in conjunction with GeoTools 15-beta2 and GeoWebCache 1.9-beta2. Thanks to Jody Garnett (Boundless) and Kevin Smith (Boundless) for this release.

Beta Testing

The GeoServer Team has been hard at work to bring you this beta release. Thanks to the committers for taking part in the emergency spring-4 upgrade and community members joining for subsequent testing and quality assurance: Justin Deoliveira and Andrea Aimie, Emanuele Tajariol, Damiano Giampaoli, Ben Caradoc-Davies, Niels Charlier, Mauro Bartolomeoli, Jody Garnett, Jukka Rahkonen, Brad Hards, Kevin Smith, Chris Snider, Torben Barsballe, Christian Mueller, Luigi Pirelli  … and next you!

Here is our priorities for testing:

  • Seeking confirmation on Java 8 compatibility (test Oracle JDK and OpenJDK on a range of platforms)

  • Testing of the user-interface (although the team has performed extensive manual testing we need your help)

  • Release packaging (check for anything out of date, any issues starting up)

  • GeoServer security integration

We have a couple known issues to keep in mind when testing:

  • Windows installer “Install as service” needs a configuration change once installed (GEOS-7507) Open wrapper.conf and update contents with: wrapper.app.parameter.1=org.eclipse.jetty.start.Main

  • Windows installer “Run manually” may have an issue with startup.bat (GEOS-7509)

  • Several issues have been reported with the Demo Page (GEOS-7513)

About GeoServer 2.9

Articles, docs, blog posts and presentations:

The GeoServer team extends our thanks to wicket upgrade sprint sponsors: OSGeo, Boundless, Vivid Solutions, How 2 Map, San Jose Water Company, Transient and Geobeyond.