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Delighted to be speaking at CFCamp 2023

I'm delighted to announce that I've been selected to speak at CFCamp 2023, in Munich this June. This will be my 7th year in a row presenting at this wonderful event (not counting when it was skipped in 2020-22), and my 8th year total.

(While I said "thrilled" about my previous two conference announcements, saying "delighted" here is not a downgrade. Just a desire not to sound repetitive!)

My talk will be...

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New look for CArehart.org, especially better for the blog on mobile

OK, so in my last post (celebrating my 600th post and 17th year blogging here) I happened to admit that the site still looked like it was from 2006--that's actually the year of the blogcfc 5.005 version that I based it on...and I never really changed the "look and feel" much.

Until this weekend...and it may not be noticeable to all, but I suspect some things will stand out to regular readers, starting with....

Blog much improved on mobile!

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An interesting pair of anniversaries for my blog: 600 posts, over 17 years this month

After I posted my last entry, I happened to notice that it was exactly my 600th post here at carehart.org/blog. How about that? And in that time I've had 3,645 comments from folks. I do write mostly for you all, so thanks!

I also noticed that it marks my 17th year of blogging here, almost to the day with my first entry posted this same week back then, Apr 15 2006. That's "pretty darn interesting", as Ray Camden might say.

FWIW, I'd also blogged elsewhere--yes, on CF--prior to starting this one. And the first of those posts were in early 1998--so technically it's my 25th anniversary of blogging about CF. :-)

But about that dated site layout...

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New updates released for Java 8, 11, 17, and 20 as of Apr 18 2023: resources and thoughts

It's that time again: there are new JVM updates released today (Apr 18, 2023) for the current long-term support (LTS) releases of Oracle Java, 8, 11, and 17, as well as the current interim update 20.

TLDR: The new updates are 1.8.0_371 (aka 8u371), 11.0.19, 17.0.7, and 20.0.1 respectively). For more on each of them, including what changed and the security fixes they each contain (including their CVE scores regarding urgency of concerns), see the Oracle resources I list below. Oracle calls them "critical patch updates" (yep, CPU), but they are in fact scheduled quarterly updates, so that "critical" nomenclature may sometimes be a bit overstated. And as is generally the case with these Java updates, most of them have the same changes and fixes across the versions as each other, though not always.

Note: If you use the JDK installer and may be coming to this update of Java 11 or 17 having skipped the last update, 11.0.18 or 17.0.6 respectively, please note there is an important change to the installer (for all OSs) which you should consider before proceeding. For more, see my discussion below.

For some folks, that's all they need to hear. For others, read on for topics like:

  • Finding more info on these Apr 2023 Java updates
  • What about other JVM distributions besides Oracle?
  • News for my CF audience (getting the Java updates from Adobe or Oracle, how to update, why you should NOT for now use Java 17 with CF, etc)
  • Should you apply the update? how soon?
  • Beware a change in the January 2023 JVM update regarding the JDK installer
  • Beware a change in the October 2022 JVM update regarding Java no longer trusting jars signed with SHA-1
  • Beware a change in the April 2021 JVM update, if you may be skipping over it
  • Wrapping up, getting more help

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ColdFusion March 2023 emergency update, and what to do about it

If you've not heard, a new update has been released (March 14, 2023) for ColdFusion 2021 and 2018. Despite what you may hear, this is an URGENT (rated "Priority 1" by Adobe) update that everyone should apply ASAP, for reasons I will explain in this post. In fact, Hackernews reported yesterday (Mar 16) that the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) had issued an urgent warning about this, giving federal agencies a deadline to apply the update.

TLDR; For some folks, the above may be all you need to hear: you may be dropping your coffee and donuts now to get the update applied. Still others will see this "huge post" and think, "crap, I don't have time for this". For you, skip to the bottom and its "concluding key points". You can then decide what you think you do or don't "need to know" and pick and choose from the sections as you like.

Finally, for those who prefer because of the importance of all this to be led more carefully through understanding things (in a way that's worked for the many people I have helped so far this week, and is far more than either Adobe or Hackernews has shared), please do read on.

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Thrilled to be speaking at Adobe CF Summit East, Apr 6

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been asked to present again at the Adobe ColdFusion Summit East 2023, a free one-day conference being held in Washington DC on Apr 6, at the Marriott Marquis.

For more on the event, my talk, and how this means I have to skip attending/speaking at DevNexus the same week, read on.

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FusionReactor 9.2.1 update released Jan 31 2023: resources and thoughts

If you're using FusionReactor, note that a new 9.2.1 update was released last week, Jan 31, with a couple of bug fixes--including one where you may need to add a JVM arg to prevent an error, in a certain case as I will discuss.

For more, read on.

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New URL for signing up to the CFML Slack: cfml-slack.net

TLDR; the URL for joining the CFML Slack workspace and channels has changed. If you want to join the CFML Slack, use the form at cfml-slack.net. As some may have noticed, the old URL for joining (cfml-slack.herokuapp.com) no longer works.

Since it's mentioned in many places on the web, I wanted to help spread this news. This cfml-slack.net URL replaces that, while the URL for the CFML Slack channel itself is unchanged: cfml.slack.com.

For more explanation/context, and especially if you may be new to considering the CFML Slack, read on.

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Be aware that ColdFusion 2018 end-of-life (and end of updates) is coming July 2023

Are you still running ColdFusion 2018? Did you know that its end-of-life is July 13, 2023? That's the date that "core" support ends--meaning, no more updates from Adobe after that, not even security fixes.

As for CF2021, it gets updates into 2025, and the currently running pre-release of CF2023 is a great sign for the continued vitality of CF. But this looming deadline for CF2018 is a reminder that as the years roll on, we not only get new versions but we must say good-bye to old ones.

Wondering what you can do? or when CF2021 or CF2023 support will end also? And what's the difference between "core" and "extended" support Adobe sells? (The extended support plan does NOT provide updates beyond this coming July.) For more on these, including official Adobe documentation that discusses such things, as well as my thoughts on migration, costs, various options to consider, and more, do read on.

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Thrilled to be presenting at Devnexus 2023

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been selected as a speaker at Devnexus 2023, the long-running professional developer conference held in Atlanta. If you may not be familiar with it, I'll talk about the event a bit more below, as well as offer a discount code to attend.

As for my session, it will be "Transitioning to Java 17 from 11 or 8 for Admins":

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