# Gradle Release Notes

### Version 6.9.4

This is a backport release, Gradle 6.9.4.

This is the fourth patch release for Gradle 6.9.

It fixes the following issues:

- #23680 Dependency graph resolution: Equivalent excludes can cause un-necessary graph mutations [backport 6.x]
- #23945 Backport trusting only full GPG keys in dependency verification [Backport 6.9.4]
- #23950 Exclude rule merging: missing optimization [backport 6.x]

Issues fixed in the third patch release:

- #19523 Fix buffer overflow error in KryoBackedDecoder [Backport 6.x]
- #20189 Support constraints without version in GMM [Backport 6.9.x]
- #22358 Missing exclude rule merging optimizations

Issues fixed in the second patch release:

- #18163 Fix excludes for substituted dependencies
- #18164 POSIX shell scripts improvements
- #18697 Fix corrupted resolution result from replacement / capability conflict
- #19328 Mitigations for log4j vulnerability in Gradle builds
- #19372 Multiple transformed artifacts selected

Issues fixed in first patch release:

- #17949 Gradle's up-to-date checks do not work on Windows FAT drives
- #17950 Renaming and recreating the project directory causes Gradle to lose track of changes on Windows
- #18089 Deprecate jcenter() repository

We recommend users upgrade to 6.9.4 instead of 6.9.

Given the context of the Log4Shell vulnerability, make sure you take a look at our blog post on this topic.

This release features bugfixes and other changes that were backported from Gradle 7.x to Gradle 6.x.

We would like to thank the following community contributors to this release of Gradle: Ståle Undheim, Fodor Zoltan

## Table Of Contents

## Upgrade instructions

Switch your build to use Gradle 6.9.4 by updating your wrapper:

`./gradlew wrapper --gradle-version=6.9.4`

See the Gradle 6.x upgrade guide to learn about deprecations, breaking changes and other considerations when upgrading to Gradle 6.9.4.

NOTE: Gradle 6.9 has had two patch release, which fixes several issues from the original release. We recommend always using the latest patch release.

For Java, Groovy, Kotlin and Android compatibility, see the full compatibility notes.

## Backports

### Limited support for Java 16

This release does not support running Gradle with JDK 16, but you can use Java toolchains to request Java 16 and compile your project.

### Using dynamic versions in the plugins block

Until now, the `plugins { }` block only supported fixed versions for community plugins. All version string notations Gradle supports are now accepted, including `+` or `latest.release`.

We recommend using the `plugins {}` block for applying plugins using Gradle 7. The old `apply plugin:` mechanism will be deprecated in the future.

Note that dynamic versions will introduce non-deterministic behavior to your build process and should be used judiciously. You can use dependency locking to save the set of dependencies resolved when using dynamic versions.

### Native support for Apple Silicon

Previous Gradle versions were able to run on new Macs with Apple Silicon processors with some disadvantages:

- With a native ARM JDK, Gradle features like the rich console and file system watching would be disabled.
- With an Intel JDK, Gradle would run at about half speed through the Rosetta2 compatibility layer.

With this release, every feature is now supported using a native ARM JDK. If you're using a new Mac with Apple Silicon, you should use Gradle with a native ARM JDK for optimal performance.

### Other backports

Please refer to the list below for all issues backported from Gradle 7.0.

## Fixed issues

## Known issues

Known issues are problems that were discovered post release that are directly related to changes made in this release.

## External contributions

We love getting contributions from the Gradle community. For information on contributing, please see gradle.org/contribute.

## Reporting Problems

If you find a problem with this release, please file a bug on GitHub Issues adhering to our issue guidelines. If you're not sure you're encountering a bug, please use the forum.

We hope you will build happiness with Gradle, and we look forward to your feedback via Twitter or on GitHub.