80.11 How to use Java 6

If you want to use Spring Boot with Java 6 there are a small number of configuration changes that you will have to make. The exact changes depend on your application’s functionality.

80.11.1 Embedded servlet container compatibility

If you are using one of Boot’s embedded Servlet containers you will have to use a Java 6-compatible container. Both Tomcat 7 and Jetty 8 are Java 6 compatible. See Section 70.16, “Use Tomcat 7.x or 8.0” and Section 70.18, “Use Jetty 8” for details.

80.11.2 Jackson

Jackson 2.7 and later requires Java 7. If you want to use Jackson with Java 6 you will have to downgrade to Jackson 2.6.

80.11.3 JTA API compatibility

While the Java Transaction API itself doesn’t require Java 7 the official API jar contains classes that have been built to require Java 7. If you are using JTA then you will need to replace the official JTA 1.2 API jar with one that has been built to work on Java 6. To do so, exclude any transitive dependencies on javax.transaction:javax.transaction-api and replace them with a dependency on org.jboss.spec.javax.transaction:jboss-transaction-api_1.2_spec:1.0.0.Final