[ANNOUNCEMENT] HttpComponents Core 5.0 alpha3 released

[Oleg Kalnichevski <ol...@apache.org>]

The Apache HttpComponents project is pleased to announce 5.0-alpha3
release of HttpComponents Core. 

This is a major release that renders HttpCore API incompatible with the
stable 4.x branch and upgrades HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 protocol conformance
to the requirements and recommendations of the latest protocol
specification.

Notable changes and features included in the 5.0 series are:

* Partial support for HTTP/2 protocol and conformance to requirements
and recommendations of the latest HTTP/2 protocol specification (RFC
7540, RFC 7541)

  Supported features:

    ** HPACK header compression
    ** stream multiplexing (client and server)
    ** flow control
    ** response push (client and server)
    ** message trailers
    ** expect-continue handshake
    ** connection validation (ping)
    ** application-layer protocol negotiation (ALPN) on Java 1.9+
    ** TLS 1.2 security features

   Unsupported features:

    ** padding of outgoing frames
    ** stream priority
    ** plain connection HTTP/1.1 upgrade
    ** CONNECT method

* Improved conformance to requirements and recommendations of the
latest HTTP/1.1 protocol specification (RFC 7230, RFC 7231)

* New asynchronous HTTP transport APIs consistent for both HTTP/1.1 and
HTTP/2 transport.

* Improved HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 requester and server implementations.

* Redesigned connection pool implementation with reduced pool lock
contention.

* Plug-in mechanism for HTTP/1.1 protocol switch / upgrade.

* Package name space changed to 'org.apache.hc.core5'

* Maven group id changed to 'org.apache.httpcomponents.core5'

HttpCore 5.0 releases can be co-located with earlier versions.

Please note that as of 5.0 HttpCore requires Java 1.7 or newer.

!!!IMPORTANT!!! 
We have been considering upgrading minimal JRE level to 1.8 for all
HttpCore 5.x artifacts. If you would like HttpCore to remain 1.7
compatible please do let us know by posting a message to dev@hc.apache.
org  

Please note that at this point 5.0 APIs are considered API experimental
and unstable and are expected to change in the coming releases without
providing a migration path.

Download - <http://hc.apache.org/downloads.cgi>
Release notes - <http://www.apache.org/dist/httpcomponents/httpcore/REL
EASE_NOTES-5.0.x.txt>
HttpComponents site - <http://hc.apache.org/>

About HttpComponents Core

HttpCore is a set of HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 transport components that can
be used to build custom client and server side HTTP services with a
minimal footprint.