Video summary
The meeting of the Jenkins Platform Special Interest Group on August 25, 2026, began with a critical update regarding container support for Windows Server 2019. Following the release of version 2.68.1 two months prior, which ended support for core containers, the team has already removed Windows Server 2019 support from weekly releases. This removal is scheduled to be included in the upcoming Long Term Support (LTS) release next Wednesday and will subsequently appear in the changelog upgrade guide. The discussion also touched on the progress toward Jakarta EE 10 support, noting that despite ongoing efforts, a breaking change involving the removal of the HTTP server context remains unresolved. While there is still hope for implementation by calendar 2026, confidence has diminished since three months ago, creating a risk that full support might not arrive until sometime in 2027. However, from a user experience perspective, the transition between Jakarta EE 9 and EE 10 is expected to be seamless, primarily driven by the necessity for Spring Security to eventually drop support for EE 9, on which Jenkins critically depends.
A significant portion of the agenda was dedicated to operating system updates for IBM System z390, specifically the migration from Ubuntu 22.04 to 26.04. The team clarified that while acceptance tests are currently running and the infrastructure works on this platform, a new challenge has emerged due to the shift in Java update frequency. Previously, Java security fixes were released quarterly, allowing Jenkins to wait until all platforms supported a new version before updating. With Java now releasing monthly updates, the slower delivery time for System z390—potentially taking up to two weeks—poses a risk of delaying availability for the vast majority of container users who rely on faster update cycles. Consequently, the infrastructure team is considering whether to separate the update timeline for System z390 from other platforms to prevent these delays, though this decision remains under review.
The group then addressed the status of Java 25 support, confirming that the ecosystem is currently healthy and stable. Out of the top 250 actively maintained plugins, approximately 240 or more are already tested with Java 25, and even those not yet testing have reported no specific issues. The Jenkins.io Continuous Integration environment plans to switch to Java 25 soon, further solidifying this transition. No action is required from users at this stage, as the migration appears smooth without reported problems. The speakers emphasized that while a blog post about the potential changes in the container update process due to monthly Java releases was considered, it was deemed premature to publish now since the final strategy involves speculation on how different platforms will be managed moving forward.
In conclusion, the meeting focused on navigating the complexities of rapid technology shifts within the Jenkins infrastructure. The primary takeaways involve the definitive end of Windows Server 2019 support in upcoming LTS releases, the cautious optimism regarding Jakarta EE 10 integration despite potential delays into 2027, and the strategic evaluation of decoupling update schedules for legacy hardware like System z390 to accommodate monthly Java security patches. The team agreed that while the current state is stable with Java 25, the operational processes must evolve to handle the increased frequency of updates without compromising the experience for users on slower platforms. The recording of the session will be made available within 24 to 48 hours for those who could not attend or wish to review the detailed discussions on these infrastructure changes.
Read the full video transcript
[clears throat] Welcome everyone. This
is the Jenkins platform special interest
group. Today is the 25th of August 2026.
Let's get started. So first topic,
Windows 2019 end of support in Jenkins
container images. We stopped contain
support for the core container about 2
months ago when we released 2568.1.
We have now dropped uh container support
for Windows Server 2019
in
weekly releases already and have d will
drop it in the LTS releases next
Wednesday and it will be in the change
login upgrade guide when released.
Uh on that topic LTS updates the new LTS
release is coming next week. looking
forward to it.
On Jakarta on Jakarta E10 support, we've
had no progress since last month. There
is still this breaking change with the
removal of HTTP server context that
needs to be adapted and
there is still hope that we might get it
in by calendar 2026, but I'm not uh not
as confident as I was 3 months ago. So
there's a risk that we won't get Jakarta
EE10 until sometime in 2027. In terms of
user experience, I don't see any actual
change for the users whether we're doing
Jakarta E9 or EE10. The reason to go to
EE10 is Spring Security will eventually
stop supporting Jakarta E9.
And then and we do we are critically
dependent on Spring Security and on the
Spring framework.
Next topic was operating system updates
for system 390. So we've updated from
Ubuntu 2204 to 2604
and oh and this statement is wrong and
acceptance tests are running. So we know
that we work on IBM system 390. Now
there is a challenge with that that it
hides in the Java upgrade campaigns.
Java updates are now happening monthly.
With monthly Java updates,
um, we need the system 390 bit sooner.
And at least the most recent release
25.04.1,
it includes system 390, but 21
the the.1 release for Java 21 does not
yet include system 390. So the
infrastructure team is considering
should we consider separating our update
timeline for system 390 from others
because we don't want to delay the
availability of
of
Java releases for our large volume of
container users based on the slower
response time or slower delivery time
for system 390.
Java updates.
That actually covered all the topics
that I had. Robson, did you have any
topics that you wanted to be sure we
discussed today?
>> Hi Bob, I'm here too.
>> Oh, hi Chris. Great.
>> Hey. Hi guys.
>> And Chris, same question to you. Any any
any topics that you wanted to be sure
that we discussed today? Oh yeah,
actually I just wanted like um to double
check like um for the migration to 25
like um is anything left to be done at
this stage?
>> Ah good question. So Java Java let's put
it there Java 25 support.
>> Yep.
So the current status is um 220
plus
of the top actually I think it's now 240
240 plus of the top
250
oops 250 actively maintained
plugins are already testing with Java
So, and as far as I can tell, no action
required. Even plugins that are not
testing with Java 25 are working with
Java 25. We've had no reports of issues
that are specific to Java 25.
And I've been running Java 25 myself. I
I'm not sure if CI Jenkins.io IO has yet
switched to Java 25, but the plan is to
switch it to Java 25.
>> So, as far as I know, we are are healthy
and stable for Java Java 25 support.
Have you heard any issue reports, Chris,
or of any problems?
>> Cuz I was supposed to help earlier, but
I never got a chance to because like um
of my circumstances before, but um just
want to like catch up to see like if
that's anything I can do.
>> Yeah, no, no problem. And it it feels
like we are in in very good condition. I
I I could check the exact number of the
top 250, but my recollection was it's
it's 240 or more of them. So the vast
majority of the top 250 actively
maintained plugins are tested with Java
25.
>> That's good. Sounds good. Yeah.
>> All right.
>> Any other questions or topics for today?
Now Chris, were you here when when I
mentioned this one? The Java upgrade
campaign is a change that will probably
bring change in Jenkins infra and may
cause a change in our container update
process
>> because Java is now releasing security
fixes every month instead of every
quarter.
>> And that means we've got to change our
pace. In the past, we quietly waited
until all of our platforms supported the
new Java version before we updated any
of them. And now what we're seeing is if
it happens monthly and if Eclipse Team
takes 2 weeks to deliver the update for
system 390, uh that may be unacceptable.
So we we may need to switch and somehow
separate our Java version for for
different platforms based on their
availability. We'll we'll see.
>> Should we have a blog post about it
later on?
>> Uh I' once we have processes working, I
think that's reasonable. Okay.
>> But at this point, I' I'd be
uncomfortable with the blog post because
it would be mostly speculation. What
will we do?
>> Okay. It's okay.
>> Okay.
Any any other topics for today?
All right. Then let's we'll stop the
recording. Recording should be available
in 24 to 48 hours.