Replacements for deprecated JPMS modules with Java EE APIs

Question

Java 9 deprecated six modules that contain Java EE APIs and they are going to be removed soon:

• java.activation with javax.activation package
• java.corba with javax.activity, javax.rmi, javax.rmi.CORBA, and org.omg.* packages
• java.transaction with javax.transaction package
• java.xml.bind with all javax.xml.bind.* packages
• java.xml.ws with javax.jws, javax.jws.soap, javax.xml.soap, and all javax.xml.ws.* packages
• java.xml.ws.annotation with javax.annotation package

Which maintained third-party artifacts provide those APIs? It doesn't matter how well they provide those APIs or which other features they have to offer - all that matters is, are they a drop-in replacement for these modules/packages?

To make it easier to collect knoweldge, I answered with what I know so far and made the answer a community wiki. I hope people will extend it instead of writing their own answers.

---

Before you vote to close:

• Yes, there are already some questions on individual modules and an answer to this question would of course duplicate that information. But AFAIK there is no single point to learn about all of these, which I think has a lot of value.
• Questions asking for library recommendations are usually considered off-topic, because "they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam", but I don't think that applies here. The set of valid libraries is clearly delineated: They have to implement a specific standard. Beyond that nothing else matters, so I don't see much risk for opinion and spam.

Answer 1

Instead of using the deprecated Java EE modules, use the following artifacts.

JAF (java.activation)

JavaBeans Activation Framework (now Jakarta Activation) is a standalone technology (available on Maven Central):

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.activation</groupId>
    <artifactId>jakarta.activation</artifactId>
    <version>1.2.2</version>
</dependency>

(Source)

CORBA (java.corba)

From JEP 320:

There will not be a standalone version of CORBA unless third parties take over maintenance of the CORBA APIs, ORB implementation, CosNaming provider, etc. Third party maintenance is possible because the Java SE Platform endorses independent implementations of CORBA. In contrast, the API for RMI-IIOP is defined and implemented solely within Java SE. There will not be a standalone version of RMI-IIOP unless a dedicated JSR is started to maintain it, or stewardship of the API is taken over by the Eclipse Foundation (the transition of stewardship of Java EE from the JCP to the Eclipse Foundation includes GlassFish and its implementation of CORBA and RMI-IIOP).

JTA (java.transaction)

Stand alone version:

<dependency>
    <groupId>jakarta.transaction</groupId>
    <artifactId>jakarta.transaction-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.3.3</version>
</dependency>

(Source)

JAXB (java.xml.bind)

Since Java EE was rebranded to Jakarta EE, JAXB is now provided by new artifacts:

<!-- API -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>jakarta.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jakarta.xml.bind-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
</dependency>

<!-- Runtime -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-impl</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
    <scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>

<!-- Alternative runtime -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
    <scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>

JAXB Reference Implementation page.

The alternative runtime was brought up by @Abhijit Sarkar since com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-impl has been deprecated.

schemagen and xjc can be downloaded from there too as part of a standalone JAXB distribution.

See also linked answer.

JAX-WS (java.xml.ws)

Reference implementation:

<!-- API -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>jakarta.xml.ws</groupId>
    <artifactId>jakarta.xml.ws-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
</dependency>

<!-- Runtime -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.xml.ws</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxws-rt</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
</dependency>

Standalone distribution download (contains wsgen and wsimport).

Common Annotations (java.xml.ws.annotation)

Java Commons Annotations (available on Maven Central):

<dependency>
    <groupId>jakarta.annotation</groupId>
    <artifactId>jakarta.annotation-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.3.5</version>
</dependency>

(Source)

Answer 2

JAXB (java.xml.bind) for JDK9

Working perfectly in my desktop applications on jdk9/10 EA

<properties>
    <jaxb-api.version>2.3.0</jaxb-api.version>
</properties>

<!-- JAXB 2.3.0 for jdk9+ -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
    <version>${jaxb-api.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
    <version>${jaxb-api.version}</version>
</dependency>
<!-- JAXB needs javax.activation module (jdk9) -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.activation</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.activation-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.2.0</version>
</dependency>

Answer 3

I needed to replace JAX-WS (java.xml.ws) and JAXB (java.xml.bind) for my Spring Boot 2 based application and ended up with these JARs (Gradle build):

// replacements for deprecated JDK module java.xml.ws
runtimeOnly 'javax.xml.ws:jaxws-api:2.3.0' // javax.xml.ws.* classes
runtimeOnly 'javax.jws:jsr181-api:1.0-MR1' // for javax.jws.* classes

// replacement for deprecated JDK module java.xml.bind
runtimeOnly 'javax.xml.bind:jaxb-api'
runtimeOnly 'org.glassfish.jaxb:jaxb-runtime:2.3.0.1'
runtimeOnly 'org.glassfish:javax.json:1.1.2'
runtimeOnly 'org.eclipse:yasson:1.0.1'

(You may need compile or other scope, runtimeOnly was enough for us.)

I noticed that https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/com.sun.xml.bind/jaxb-core is described as "Old" and using this answer went for org.glassfish based stuff that brought in org.eclipse.yasson as well.

Now it's really messy situation, it works, but how should anyone be sure it's the best replacement, right?

Answer 4

It seems that jaxws-ri depends transitively from commonj.sdo:commonj.sdo:jar:2.1.1.v201112051852 which apparently can be found from repository http://download.eclipse.org/rt/eclipselink/maven.repo

Answer 5

I'm using jdk 11 + ant + ivy in my spring mvc project. I was getting error "package javax.jws does not exist" so I added javax.jws-api-1.1.jar to classpath and it worked! Just download the jar from https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/javax/jws/javax.jws-api/1.1/javax.jws-api-1.1.jar And add it to your classpath in your build.xml

Alternatively add it to your pom.xml:

<dependency>
  <groupId>javax.jws</groupId>
  <artifactId>javax.jws-api</artifactId>
  <version>1.1</version>
</dependency>

Answer 6

Just a minor variation (improvement) on the above answers --- exemplified here for JAXB only. One can add the dependencies with the runtime scope and only if this is effectively needed (i.e. when building for running in a JRE with version >= 9 --- here v11 is exemplified):

<profile>
        <id>when-on-jdk-11</id>
        <activation>
            <jdk>11</jdk>
        </activation>

        <properties>
            <!-- missing artefacts version properties -->
            <jaxb-api.version>2.3.1</jaxb-api.version>
            <jaxb-impl.version>2.3.2</jaxb-impl.version> <!-- one might let it the same with the jaxb-api.version -->
        </properties>

        <dependencies>
            <!-- runtime dependencies to avoid JAXB related CNF exceptions when running on Java 11 (e.g.: ClassNotFoundException: javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType) -->
            <dependency>
                <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
                <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
                <version>${jaxb-api.version}</version>
                <scope>runtime</scope>
            </dependency>
            <dependency>
                <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
                <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
                <version>${jaxb-impl.version}</version>
                <scope>runtime</scope>
            </dependency>
        </dependencies>
    </profile>

Answer 7

If you have this issue in Talend (7.x for example), you can add in the Default POM.xml of the project:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>javax.xml.soap</groupId>
        <artifactId>javax.xml.soap-api</artifactId>
        <version>1.4.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Tested with :

• AdoptJDK 8.0.275.1-hotspot : OK
• AdoptJDK 11.0.9.101-hotspot : OK
• AdoptJDK 15.0.1.9-hotspot : KO (but It is another issue: Incompatible conditional operand types Exception and TDieException)
• Zulu-8.50.0.1017: OK
• Zulu-11.43.1015 : OK

Answer 8

I have experimented with most of the suggestions described above using JDK 11.0.3 and have been not been successful. The only solution that I eventually found to work is the following. Perhaps there are other options that also work but it appears that the selection of version is critical. For example, changing com.sun.xml.ws:rt to 2.3.2 causes module javax.jws to no long be available.

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
        <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
        <version>2.4.0-b180830.0438</version>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>com.sun.xml.ws</groupId>
        <artifactId>rt</artifactId>
        <version>2.3.1</version>
    </dependency> 

Answer 9

If you have the same problem add the below dependency to pom.xml

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.xml.ws</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxws-rt</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.3</version>
</dependency>

Then use JAVA 8 as an alternate JRE. For further details refer to this video, which worked for me.

Answer 10

It's indeed a real pain still going through this as of 2022! I tried many above suggestions, but only could only get it to work with below dependencies.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-core</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.0.1</version>
</dependency>
 
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.1</version>
</dependency>
 
<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaxb-impl</artifactId>
    <version>2.3.1</version>
</dependency>
  
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.javassist</groupId>
    <artifactId>javassist</artifactId>
    <version>3.25.0-GA</version>
</dependency>

Note: Don't be tempted to update the dependencies, just leave it that way, and it works for me.

Answer 11

I found the easiest path to get around the JAXB parts of these issues was to use dependency management in my root pom or in my bom:

    <project ...>
      <dependencyManagement>
        <dependencies>
          <!-- ... -->
          <!-- Gone from jvm in java11 -->
          <dependency>
          <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
          <artifactId>jaxb-ri</artifactId>
          <version>2.4.0-b180830.0438</version>
          <scope>import</scope>
          <type>pom</type>
        </dependency>
        <!-- ... -->
      </dependencies>
    </dependencyManagement>
    </project>

And in the modules that fail compilation on jdk11:

    <!-- ... -->
    <dependencies>
      <!-- Gone from jvm in java11 -->
      <dependency>
         <groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
         <artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
         <artifactId>jaxb-impl</artifactId>
         <scope>runtime</scope>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
         <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
         <scope>runtime</scope>
      </dependency>
      <!-- ... -->
    </dependencies>  
    <!-- ... -->

Also, updating the version of org.jvnet.jaxb2.maven2:maven-jaxb2-plugin to 0.14.0 solved all the jaxb generation issues for me.