Apache NetBeans IDE 29 RC1 released
Apache NetBeans 29 has just released its first candidate build for testing purposes, opening things up for community feedback.
The Gradle integration got a decent deal of work. You can now run classes from specific source sets directly in the Gradle actions window. The team also pulled the plug on an old, unmaintained HTMLUI Project Template project based on Gradle; it wasn't kept current anymore. And they reverted changes related to a workaround for TLS handshake issues with the Gradle downloader; that fix went away since other solutions were likely better. On the plus side, they upgraded the core Gradle Tooling API.
Maven support landed some updates too. They tackled an UnsupportedOperationException in one of the RunGoalsPanel components and cleaned up internal deprecations related to the Maven embedder, which is good for keeping things tidy. There was also a specific fix involving using ASM for smoother integration elsewhere, plus they're starting testing on JDK 26-ea now. And don't forget, the bundled Maven version is now upgraded to 3.9.12.
Ant fans see an update too: Ant library support jumps straight to version 1.10.15.
Java's corner also received attention. Performance improvements were noted in listClassPathHints(), and JavaFX got refactored to rely more on JDK features, updating its integration for javac tasks accordingly. Some other code bits saw action as well; the Find Usage feature benefited from a tweak moving classpath merging out of the inner loop, making it potentially snappier. And there's a fix related to TreeUtilities calculating record spans.
JavaFX compatibility and performance were boosted by upgrading it to version 21.0.9. Similarly, Groovy support moved forward with its own update, bumping itself to 3.0.25.
For those playing with PHP, there are some feature additions: folding now works for heredoc and nowdoc syntax, which is great if you use them often, and they fixed an issue where traits didn't work properly in anonymous classes.
The C/C++ development platform saw enhancements too, particularly around handling broken bootpaths. They also nixed default hardcoded --release values in the embedded tools setup; it seems these are better handled explicitly now. And if you're using the built-in Tomcat server, rest assured it's been updated to version 9.0.113.
Versioning support got improved with upgrades to DefaultGitHyperlinkProvider and the jgit library itself.
Git integration also received polish: they've refined how checkout dialogs handle ambiguous ID input.
Editor-wise, performance was a focus for LazyProject initialization times. The editor tooltips were given an extra boost too. Also in file wizards, the locations of grammar template folders got fixed up.
Speaking of UI touches, the NotificationCenterManager now ensures filtered lists are handled properly across concurrent access situations, avoiding potential glitches. Other visual tweaks include smoother anti-aliasing for conflict views and clearer diff displays showing differences between versions.
Platform-wise, they made embedded terminal operations self-referential to avoid confusion or errors and corrected RequestProcessor FixedRateTask initialDelay values, which is something that might have slipped under the radar before.
A bump in the platform cluster level targeted javac.release 17 directly.
Language Server Protocol support saw updates as well. They replaced some specific codicons with Unicode characters for the Change Method refactoring UI elements. This means cleaner visuals or more reliable rendering, depending on your perspective. The LSP4J library has been upgraded to version 0.24.0, and they updated Xtend/Xtext to 2.32.0.
On the maintenance front, dependencies for various actions have been updated, outdated ProgressUtils methods have been retired, and all Editor Utilities have been migrated to LineDocumentUtils, which helps keep everything modern and efficient.
Elsewhere: user directories now use absolute paths via a new tool called absolutize_paths. There's also an 'ideopen' command you can run from the NetBeans terminal to open local files or folders directly (though it doesn't work on Windows for some reason). Some long-running tasks like grid customizers were given performance nips, and minor tweaks help out with Rust projects too within the IDE.
Release Apache NetBeans 29-rc1
What's Changed Gradle Support running classes from specific Gradle source sets in Gradle actions by @Achal1607 in #8897 Remove unmaintained Gradle HTMLUI Project Template by @lkishalmi in #9125 Re...
