chore: fix deprecated Gradle APIs, move to com.gradleup.shadow, bump build deps

[devin-ai-integration]

Summary

Removes all Gradle deprecation warnings from this example ("Deprecated Gradle features were used in this build, making it incompatible with Gradle 8.0") and moves off the unmaintained com.github.johnrengelman.shadow plugin.

-    id 'com.github.johnrengelman.shadow' version "6.0.0"
+    id 'com.gradleup.shadow' version "8.3.11"
-group 'com.launchdarkly'
-version '1.0-SNAPSHOT'
+group = 'com.launchdarkly'
+version = '1.0-SNAPSHOT'
-    maven { url "https://oss.sonatype.org/content/groups/public/" }
+    maven { url = "https://oss.sonatype.org/content/groups/public/" }
 application {
-    mainClassName = "Main"
+    mainClass = "Main"
 }
-distributionUrl=...gradle-7.5.1-bin.zip
+distributionUrl=...gradle-8.14.3-bin.zip

Why each piece is required rather than cosmetic:

• mainClassName → mainClass: JavaApplication.setMainClassName / JavaExec.main were deprecated and removed in Gradle 8.
• shadow plugin: shadow 6.0.0 reads the deprecated project.mainClassName convention, so switching to mainClass alone makes ./gradlew assemble fail with property 'mainClassName' doesn't have a configured value. The plugin was renamed to com.gradleup.shadow, which requires Gradle 8.x — hence the wrapper bump.
• space-assignment (group 'x', version 'x', maven { url "…" }) is deprecated as of Gradle 8.14 and scheduled for removal in Gradle 10.

Staying on shadow 8.3.x rather than 9.x: shadow 9 calls AdhocComponentWithVariants.addVariantsFromConfiguration(Provider, Action), which only exists in Gradle 9, and Gradle 9 requires Java 17+ to run — that would contradict the README's documented "Java 11 or higher".

No LaunchDarkly SDK version change: all dependency constraints are open ranges within the current major with no committed lockfile, so they already resolve to the latest compatible releases — launchdarkly-openfeature-serverprovider → 1.1.3, launchdarkly-java-server-sdk → 7.15.0, dev.openfeature:sdk → 1.22.0. No deprecated LaunchDarkly/OpenFeature APIs in Main.java (javac -Xlint:deprecation is clean).

Verification

Run locally against a real server-side SDK key, on Java 17:

• ./gradlew clean assemble run --warning-mode all — zero deprecation warnings; prints SDK successfully initialized! / The sample-feature feature flag evaluates to false.
• java -jar build/libs/hello-openfeature-java-server-1.0-SNAPSHOT-all.jar (the exact command CI runs) — same successful output, exit 0. The shadow jar filename is unchanged.

Link to Devin session: https://app.devin.ai/sessions/163c5cf635184c5ebdbc345afa517958
Requested by: @jsonbailey

---

Note

Overview
Modernizes the example’s Gradle build so it runs cleanly on Gradle 8 without deprecation warnings and stays compatible with the maintained Shadow fat-jar plugin.

The wrapper moves from Gradle 7.5.1 to 8.14.5, and the Shadow plugin switches from com.github.johnrengelman.shadow 6.0.0 to com.gradleup.shadow 8.3.11 (required for Gradle 8 and mainClass instead of the removed mainClassName). build.gradle also adopts Gradle 8+ syntax for group, version, and the Sonatype maven URL, and sets application.mainClass instead of mainClassName. Test dependencies bump JUnit Jupiter from 5.8.1 to 5.14.4. Application/SDK dependency ranges and CI’s assemble / -all.jar flow are unchanged.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit 945cd04. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

[devin-ai-integration]

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[kinyoklion]

Devin, should we be using the newer version of this that has been renamed com.gradleup.shadow?

[devin-ai-integration]

Devin, should we be using the newer version of this that has been renamed com.gradleup.shadow?

Good call — switched to com.gradleup.shadow 8.3.11 in 1c660a5. That plugin requires Gradle 8.x, so I also bumped the wrapper 7.5.1 → 8.14.3 (and fixed the now-deprecated maven { url "..." } space-assignment syntax while there).

I stayed on the 8.3.x line rather than 9.x: shadow 9.x calls AdhocComponentWithVariants.addVariantsFromConfiguration(Provider, Action), which only exists in Gradle 9, and Gradle 9 requires Java 17+ to run — that would contradict the README's "Java 11 or higher". Happy to go to Gradle 9 + shadow 9.6.0 and raise the documented minimum to 17 if you'd prefer.

Verified locally with a real SDK key: ./gradlew run --warning-mode all and ./gradlew assemble + java -jar build/libs/hello-openfeature-java-server-1.0-SNAPSHOT-all.jar both succeed with zero deprecation warnings and print The sample-feature feature flag evaluates to false. The shadow jar name is unchanged, so CI's command still works.

[devin-ai-integration]

@cursor review