spring-projects / spring-projects/spring-boot

Allow application properties to be contributed from module jars

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status: pending-design-work theme: config-data type: enhancement
Dominant language
Java
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Description

Currently application.properties and application.yaml files are loaded from the classpath and the first match wins. This makes it hard to bundle common properties into jar files. It would be nice if we could find a way for jars to also contribute properties without needing to implement a EnvironmentPostProcessor.

There are a few things we need to be careful of:

  • What order to we load the resources and how do we make sure a developer can override a contributed value
  • We don't want to increase startup time (for example by doing a full classpath search)
  • We can't break back-compatibility
  • We need to be mindful of spring.config.import=classpath:

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by tracing how application.properties and application.yaml are currently loaded from the classpath, then review EnvironmentPostProcessor and spring.config.import=classpath: behavior. Define a design that establishes contribution and override order, avoids a full classpath search, and preserves backward compatibility without increasing startup time.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java, spring-boot
Domain
backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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