The Apache HttpComponents project is pleased to announce 5.0 Alpha1 release of HttpComponents HttpClient. This is a major release that renders HttpClient API incompatible with the stable 4.x branch and upgrades HTTP/1.1 protocol conformance to the requirements and recommendations of the latest protocol specification. This release lays the foundation for transition to HTTP/2 as the primary transport protocol in the future releases. Notable changes and features included in the 5.0 series are: * Improved conformance to requirements and recommendations of the latest HTTP/1.1 protocol specification (RFC 7230, RFC 7231, RFC 7235) * Package name space changed to 'org.apache.hc.client5' * Maven group id changed to 'org.apache.httpcomponents.client5' * By default the maximum connections per route limit is set to 5 * By default connection request timeout and connect timeout are set to 3 minutes. HttpClient 5.0 releases can be co-located with earlier versions, meaning you can have both 5.x and 4.x on the classpath without experiencing jar hell. Please note that as of 5.0 HttpClient requires Java 1.7 or newer. Please note that at this point we consider 5.0 APIs experimental and unstable and expect them to change in the coming releases without providing a migration path. Download - <http://hc.apache.org/downloads.cgi> Release notes - <https://www.apache.org/dist/httpcomponents/httpclient/RELEASE_NOTES-5.0.x.txt> HttpComponents site - <http://hc.apache.org/> About HttpComponents HttpClient The Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is perhaps the most significant protocol used on the Internet today. Web services, network-enabled appliances and the growth of network computing continue to expand the role of the HTTP protocol beyond user-driven web browsers, while increasing the number of applications that require HTTP support. Although the java.net package provides basic functionality for accessing resources via HTTP, it doesn't provide the full flexibility or functionality needed by many applications. HttpClient seeks to fill this void by providing an efficient, up-to-date, and feature-rich package implementing the client side of the most recent HTTP standards and recommendations. Designed for extension while providing robust support for the base HTTP protocol, HttpClient may be of interest to anyone building HTTP-aware client applications such as web browsers, web service clients, or systems that leverage or extend the HTTP protocol for distributed communication.