Green Screens Product roadmap 2025 and beyond

In the last few years we did not publish product roadmap as general ecosystem was quite stable, and "business as usual".

Due to the latest changes in Java ecosystem, from Java JVM to Java EE profiles, encryptions algorithms deprecation etc. our announcement is very important as it depicts the future plans and course of the Green Screens server.

Older versions of GS (1..5) will not be possible to upgrade to never runtimes any more simply as technology used will become obsolete in near future.

New Java 21+ and Jakarta EE API are already replacing long lasting technologies.
With java 21, some encryption algorithms are deprecated and are scheduled for removal from later JVM LTS versions.

Existing server runtimes using older Java EE reached their end of life support.

Some online services such as ACME Let's Encrypt will switch from SHA-1 to SHA-256 or stronger. Some others already made the switch. New TLS certificates will contain (many are already upgraded) more modern and stronger algorithms.

Clustered Nodes Changes

GSv5 and newer support data sharing and syncing when running multiple nodes behind a proxy. Still, the current syncing mechanism is based on external open-source software and file synchronization which is not supported on some platforms such as IBM i preventing multiple GS nodes in a cluster on IBM i servers. Changes in 2025 will bring a new Java native based sync mechanism to overcome this limitation.

Also, synchronization will not be based on files any more but on raw memory data. Currently, we are in the second alpha stage. As many issues have been resolved, and basic shape is finished, further progressing should be faster.

Migration to the newer GS server versions (from GSv5 towards GSv6 / GSv7) will start after the new cluster engine is finished and after required JVM LTS version release.

GSv4 Changes

GSv4 is going to be retired in the beginning of 2025. And will be under the maintenance only mode until all our customers under maintenance contract upgrade their systems to GSv5 or newer.

Customers without maintenance contract will eventually have to buy a new version under product full price if old version stop working due to the technology advances. There will be a moment when JVM will not be upgradable for old versions as some API within JVM are changing also.

GSv5 Changes

GSv5 full retirement is planned for the end of 2026.
GSv5 updates through 2025 and 2026 will be more and more synchronized with GSv6 for easier transition.
GSv5 is going to stay as last version to support older Java technologies and older IBM i releases which does not support modern security algorithms such as ECDH/ECDSA, TLS1.2/TLS1.3, and other.
GSv5 will stay compatible with Java EE and Java EE compliant servers.
GSv5 will stay compatible with Java 11 or 17.
GSv5 will be possible to run in on IBM servers with Java 11 or 17.
GSv5 running on Java 11 will be limited - no multi instance sync support.
GSv5 will stay on server runtime 26.1.3. and will not be compatible to run on newer versions.
GSv5 will stay in maintenance mode only, all existing clients under the maintenance contract running GSv4 will be updated to the GSv5 and later to GSv6.

GSv6 Roadmap

NOTE: GSv6 is ready in pre-release state. Stabilization of new JVM and runtimes are in waiting room.

Incoming GSv6 brings significant security changes and runtime changes.
GSv6 will run on Java 17 (to run on IBM i) and Java 21 (default).
GSv6 will run on IBM i servers supporting Java 17 or future Java 21.
GSv6 will use server Jakarta EE instead of old Java EE.
GSv6 will use newer server releases from version 32.0 or newer.
GSv6 will be transitional version for GSv7.
GSv6 will support only stronger hash algorithms from SHA-256 or stronger.
GSv6 will support only stronger elliptic curves from EC-256 or stronger.
GSv6 will support only stronger RSA key from 2048 bit or stronger.
GSv6 will support only TLS1.2 or TLS 1.3 encrypted protocols.
GSv6 will not support SHA-1 hash algorithm.
GSv6 will not support RSA 1024 keys.
GSv6 will not support SSL, SSLv2, SSLv3, TLS1, TLS1.1 encryption protocols.
GSv6 will not support secure connections to the older IBM i systems without TLSv1.2 or newer.
GSv6 will not support secure telnet sign-on bypass for IBM i systems supporting only DES/SHA-1 scheme.

GSv7 Roadmap

Future GSv7 is planned to run primarily on Java 25 LTS or newer.
Java 25 planned release is September 2025.
GSv7 planned pre-release is December 2025.
GSv7 is GSv6 with internal API changes to support pre-Java 21 API removal and new JVM 25 LTS features.