Lucee 6.2 new features

Lucee 6.2 - Performance

Lucee 6.2 is a significant release focused on performance improvements, Jakarta Servlet support, and introducing experimental AI and Java integration features that became production-ready in Lucee 7.

What You Need to Know

  • Up to 50% faster - Major performance improvements over Lucee 5.4
  • Jakarta Servlet support - Runs on Tomcat 10+ (still javax-based)
  • Experimental AI - AI integration functions (production-ready in 7.0)
  • Experimental Java - Enhanced Java interop (production-ready in 7.0)
  • Single Mode available - Optional in 6.2, mandatory in 7.0
  • Java 8 dropped - Java 11+ required, Java 21 recommended
  • PreciseMath off by default - For better performance

Performance Improvements

Lucee 6.2 delivers substantial performance gains:

  • Up to 50% faster than Lucee 5.4 for many operations
  • Lower memory usage - PreciseMath off by default reduces overhead
  • Faster startup - Optimized initialization
  • Better throughput - Query execution and general CFML processing

New Features in Lucee 6.2

For a complete list of changes, see the Lucee Changelog, new Tags & Functions, Arguments and Attributes.

New Functions

Session Management:

System & Environment:

Security:

Java Integration using Maven

Direct Maven support for Java library management:

  • Define Maven dependencies in Application.cfc via this.javaSettings
  • Automatic dependency resolution and loading
  • Simplifies Java library integration
  • Works with .CFConfig.json for global dependencies

See Using Maven directly via CFML and JavaSettings in Application.cfc, Components and CFConfig.json for complete details.

Example - Markdown Parsing with CommonMark:

component
	javaSettings='{
		"maven": [
			"org.commonmark:commonmark:0.24.0",
			"org.commonmark:commonmark-ext-gfm-tables:0.24.0"
		]
	}'
{
	import org.commonmark.parser.Parser;
	import org.commonmark.renderer.html.HtmlRenderer;
	import org.commonmark.ext.gfm.tables.TablesExtension;

	function render( string markdown ){
		var extensions = [ TablesExtension::create() ];
		var parser = Parser::builder().extensions( extensions ).build();
		var document = parser.parse( arguments.markdown );
		var renderer = HtmlRenderer::builder().extensions( extensions ).build();
		return renderer.render( document );
	}
}

Maven automatically downloads the libraries and all their dependencies - no manual JAR management!

Quartz Scheduler Extension

Industry-standard task scheduling using Quartz:

  • Multiple job types (URL, paths, components)
  • Clustering support (database or Redis)
  • Flexible cron expressions
  • Event listeners for job monitoring
  • 100% CFML implementation

See Quartz Scheduler for details.

Experimental Features (Production Ready in 7.0)

These features were introduced as experimental ( subject to change ) in Lucee 6.2 and became stable in Lucee 7.0.

AI Support (Experimental)

Early AI integration functions:

See AI (experimental) for documentation.

Status: Experimental in 6.2, production-ready in 7.0

Enhanced Java Support (Experimental)

Improved Java interoperability:

  • Better class loading
  • Maven integration improvements
  • Enhanced Java object interaction
  • Python via Java integration demonstrated

Status: Experimental in 6.2, production-ready in 7.0

See Java recipes under Java Class Interaction for details.

Jakarta Servlet Support

Lucee 6.2 adds support for Jakarta-based servlet engines (Tomcat 10+, Jetty 12, Undertow 2.3+) while still being javax-based.

What this means:

  • Can run on Tomcat 10+ or Tomcat 9
  • Still uses javax namespace internally
  • Requires additional javax JARs when deploying to Jakarta servlet engines
  • Official installers bundle Tomcat 10+ with required javax libraries

Manual deployment to Jakarta engines requires:

See LDEV-4910

Single Mode Available

Single Mode (introduced in Lucee 6.0) is available as an option in 6.2:

  • Simplifies configuration management
  • One server configuration instead of web contexts
  • Optional in 6.2
  • Mandatory in 7.0

See Single Mode vs Multi Mode for complete details.

Java Version Support

  • Recommended: Java 21 (LTS)
  • Supported: Java 11, Java 23
  • Avoid: Java 24-ea (date handling issues)
  • Dropped: Java 8 (no longer supported)

Key Changes

PreciseMath Off by Default

For performance reasons, preciseMath is now off by default:

  • Uses Double instead of BigDecimal
  • Significantly faster number operations
  • Lower memory usage
  • Recommendation: Enable dynamically only when needed
// Enable only when precision matters
application action="update" preciseMath="true";
result = 0.1 + 0.2; // Will be exactly 0.3
application action="update" preciseMath="false";

See Mathematical Precision for details.

Default Application Log Level

Default application log level changed to ERROR to reduce log noise.

LDEV-5366

Platform Support

New installers for:

  • Linux Arm64/aarch64
  • AlmaLinux/RedHat updates
  • Tomcat 11

Breaking Changes

See Breaking Changes Between Lucee 6.1 and 6.2 for complete list of breaking changes when upgrading from Lucee 6.1.

Key Breaking Changes:

  1. Java 8 dropped - Java 11+ required
  2. PreciseMath default changed - Now off by default
  3. Cookie expires now GMT - Was UTC previously
  4. pagePoolClear() memory issues - Use InspectTemplates() instead
  5. Performance improvements - May expose race conditions in application code

Upgrade Notes

Admin Upgrade Limitation (6.2.2+)

Due to upstream Maven changes, latest 6.2.2+ updates may not appear in the Lucee Admin.

Workaround: Manual update process

Upgrading from 5.4

  • Performance improvements are substantial (up to 50% faster)
  • Test thoroughly - faster execution may expose race conditions
  • Review Breaking Changes Between Lucee 6.1 and 6.2 carefully
  • Consider enabling Single Mode

Migration Path

It's highly recommended to do a fresh install Tomcat 9 to Tomcat 11 Upgrade Guide

From Lucee 5.4 → 6.2:

Review the breaking changes

Resources

Community and Support

For questions, issues, or feature requests:

Looking Forward

Many experimental features in Lucee 6.2 became production-ready in Lucee 7.0:

  • AI integration (experimental → stable)
  • Java enhancements (experimental → stable)
  • Single Mode (optional → mandatory)
  • Jakarta EE (supported → required)

See Lucee 7 new features for what's new in Lucee 7.