Java – how do you decide when to upgrade libraries in your project?

I work on a project that uses multiple open source Java libraries When upgrading to these libraries, we tend to follow a conservative strategy:

>If it's not broken, please don't repair it > if it doesn't have the new function we want, please ignore it

We follow this strategy because we usually don't have time to put in new libraries and thoroughly test the entire application (like many software development teams, we always lag behind the functionality promised a few months ago.)

However, I sometimes wonder if this strategy is wise, because some performance improvements and a large number of bug fixes are usually accompanied by library upgrades (i.e. "who knows, maybe things will work better in ways we can't foresee...)

What criteria do you use when making these types of decisions in a project?

Solution

I have learned enough lessons to complete the following work:

>Check the list of changes to the library What did they fix? What do I care about? If the list is not changed, the library is not used in my project. > What do people post on Library forums? A large number of posts will be posted soon after release, pointing out obvious problems? > Same as No. 2, do not upgrade immediately Everyone's publishing is bad I'm not going to be the first person to get this bug (again) This does not mean waiting six months In the first month of release, you should know the shortcomings. > When I decided to continue upgrading; Test, test, test Automated testing here is very important

Editor: I want to add a project that is at least as important, perhaps more important than other projects

>What major changes have been introduced in this release? In other words, are libraries moving in different directions? If the library is deprecating or replacing features, you will want to keep it at its best