21 August, 2025

Here are some important notes on upgrading to Crowd 7.0. To learn about new features, check out the release notes.

 Upgrade notes

Here's some important information you should know about:tes

• Removed support for Freemarker templates
• Migration to new authentication API
• Removed support for Google Apps connector
• Deprecating user and group attribute sync
• Removal of insecure and deprecated components
• Move from jTDS to Microsoft JDBC driver for SQL Server
• App signing is now enabled by default for app installations
• Supported platforms
• App developers

Removed support for Freemarker templates

We’re removing support for Freemarker templates. We recommend migration to a safer alternative, such as Soy or Apache Velocity templates.

Migration to new authentication API

We’re deprecating com.atlassian.crowd.manager.authentication.TokenAuthenticationManager. As a more secure alternative, use com.atlassian.crowd.service.authentication.CrowdApplicationAuthenticationService to authenticate and log out users to Crowd.

Other functionalities provided by TokenAuthenticationManager won’t be available in Crowd’s public API.

Removed support for Google Apps connector

Starting from Crowd 7.0, the Google Apps connector functionality is blocked by default. To permanently remove the Google Apps connector if your instance has one configured:

1. Log in to Crowd.

2. Go to the Applications tab.

3. Select Google Apps.

4. Select Remove application and confirm removal.

More about Google Apps connector

Deprecating user and group attribute sync

We're deprecating the ability to synchronize user and group attributes from external directories. This was an undocumented feature that synchronized user and group attributes with a specific prefix from an external directory. By default, this functionality was disabled and could only be activated by manually editing the directory attributes.

Removal of insecure and deprecated components

We’ve updated and migrated the insecure external components com.sun.activation and com.sun.mail from com.sun to org.eclipse.angus.

We’ve also removed the below components which have been deprecated in the past:

Move from jTDS to Microsoft JDBC driver for SQL Server

We’ve removed support for the jTDS driver, and it’s no longer bundled with Crowd. Crowd now supports the Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server, ensuring ongoing compatibility with SQL Server databases. Either you want to continue using the JTDS driver (not recommended) or move to the MS JDBC driver (recommended), you’ll have to add the driver manually to tomcat/lib directory. Explore how to set up Crowd with MS SQL Server database

If you're upgrading an existing instance to Crowd 7.0, refer to the Transitioning from JTSD to Microsofts JDBC driver article.

App signing is now enabled by default for app installations

In this release, app signing is enabled by default. This feature improves app security and was gradually rolled out across Data Center products. For details, check out this community post.

App signing affects only new app installations; already installed apps will remain intact.

The steps you need to take differ depending on whether you install applications from the Marketplace or build your custom applications.

Install apps from the Marketplace

To do so:

1. Configure the location of the truststore folder as described in Configuring UPM app signature check.

2. Download and install the Atlassian Certificates bundle. For details, see Updating Atlassian Certificate Bundles.

3. That’s it! Enjoy the safe app installations from the Marketplace.

Install custom apps

If you use custom application builds, you can sign and secure your apps:

1. Configure the location of the truststore folder as described in Configuring UPM app signature check.

2. Get the app signature and verification certificate as described in Generating app signature and verification certificate using OpenSSL.

3. Put your new certificate in your Trust store as described in Updating Atlassian Certificate Bundles.

4. Install the signed application.

You can also install the app via the file system without using the app signing feature.

If you’re experiencing issues, check out app signing troubleshooting.

 Supported platforms

• We’re adding support for:
  • PostgreSQL 17
  • MySQL 8.4
  • Oracle 23ai
  • Oracle 19
• We’re removing support for:
  • Java 17
  • Oracle 12
  • PostgreSQL 10
  • PostgreSQL 11
  • PostgreSQL 12
  • PostgreSQL 13
  • PostgreSQL 14
  • MySQL 5.7
  • MySQL 8.0 LTS
  • SQL Server 2016
  • SQL Server 2017

App developers

See Preparing for Crowd 7.0 for any important changes regarding apps.