##### Overview

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  - Authentication Guide
  - Character Encodings
  - Cookies
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  - Optimization Guide
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  - Sample Code
  - SSL Guide
  - Threading
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  - Tutorial
- Developer Guide

##### Project Documentation

- About
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##### Legend

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## 22 August 2007 - HttpClient 3.1 released

HttpClient 3.1 has been released. This version adds a number improvements to the connection management code and fixes a number of minor bugs. It is likely to be the last non bug fixing release of the HttpClient 3.x codeline.

## 16 March 2007 - HttpClient 3.1-rc1 released

HttpClient 3.1-rc1 has been released. This version fixes a number of issues found since 3.1-beta1. This release is expected to be the last one before HttpClient 3.1 goes final.

## 30 October 2006 - HttpClient 3.1-beta1 released

HttpClient 3.1-beta1 has been released. This version finalizes the RFC 2965 cookie management API and adds a number of improvements to the HTTP connection management classes.

## 26 June 2006 - HttpClient 3.1-alpha1 released

HttpClient 3.1-alpha1 has been released. This version adds support for the RFC 2965 cookie management (also known as Cookie2 or port sensitive cookies). All upstream projects dependent on HttpClient are strongly encouraged to review the new API and test new features for compatibility with their products.

## 12 May 2006 - HttpClient issue tracking migrated to Jira

HttpClient issue tracking has migrated from Bugzilla to Jira. Please do not enter new bug reports and update exiting ones in Bugzilla. HttpComponents project will be using Jira to manage HttpClient related issues as of today. Please use this project in Jira to report new issues against HttpClient and search for reported ones. All existing issue reports can be accessed in Jira by their original Bugzilla bug id.

## 08 May 2006 - HttpClient 3.0.1 released

HttpClient 3.0.1 has been released. This version fixes a number of bugs found since the release of 3.0. All HttpClient users are encouraged to upgrade.

## 27 February 2006 - HttpClient 2.x codebase declared 'End of Life'

HttpClient 2.x will no longer be supported. There will be no more HttpClient 2.x releases

## 19 December 2005 - HttpClient 3.0 released

The Jakarta Commons HttpClient project is pleased to announce the release of HttpClient 3.0. This release fixes all of the bugs discovered in RC4. As before, we strongly recommend that all users upgrade to HttpClient 3.0. Please download and enjoy.

HttpClient 3.0 provides the following new features:

- Architecture
  - New preference architecture
  - Improved exception handling framework
  - Granular non-standards configuration and tracking
  - Improved HTTP Version configuration and tracking
  - Support for streaming entities
  - Support for tunneled HTTP proxies via the ProxyClient
  - Ability to abort execution of HTTP methods
- Connection management
  - Support for closing idle connections
  - Support for JDK1.4 connect timeout through reflection
  - Support for connection manager shutdown
- Authentication
  - Improved authentication framework
  - Plug-in mechanism for authentication modules
  - Interactive authentication support
  - Alternate authentication support
- Cookie management
  - Cookie specification plug-in mechanism
  - 'Ignore cookies' cookie policy
  - Improved Netscape cookie support
- Redirects
  - Cross-site redirect support

## 11 October 2005 - HttpClient 3.0 RC4 released

The Jakarta Commons HttpClient project is pleased to announce the fourth and hopefully final release candidate of HttpClient 3.0. RC4 fixes a number of hard to find bugs left over in the previous release. We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to HttpClient 3.0 RC4. Please download and enjoy.

## 26 June 2005 - HttpClient 3.0 RC3 released

The Jakarta Commons HttpClient project is pleased to announce the third release candidate of HttpClient 3.0. RC3 has undergone quite a lot of user testing and it fixes a number of bugs from RC2. We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to HttpClient 3.0 RC3. Please download and enjoy.

## 09 April 2005 - HttpClient 3.0 RC2 released

The Jakarta Commons HttpClient project is pleased to announce the second release candidate of HttpClient 3.0. Several minor issues have been fixed since RC1 and HttpClient 3.0 has made significant progess towards the final release. We are confident HttpClient 3.0 is ready to replace HttpClient 2.0 as a production quality release. We strongly recommend upgrading to HttpClient 3.0. Please download and enjoy.

## 06 February 2005 - HttpClient 3.0 RC1 released

We are pleased to announce the HttpClient 3.0 RC1 release. The 3.0 API is frozen and all known bugs have been fixed. Assuming no major problems are discovered in RC1 a final 3.0 release will follow shortly. We strongly encourage all current HttpClient users to start migrating. Please download and enjoy.

## 30 January 2005 - Source control switched to Subversion

Along with the rest of the Jakarta Commons projects, HttpClient's version control has been switched to Subversion. Please see the links below for more information:

- Apache Subversion information
- Commons Subversion Wiki
- HttpClient 3.0 repository - http://svn.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/jakarta/commons/proper/httpclient/trunk/
- HttpClient 2.0 repository - http://svn.apache.org/viewcvs.cgi/jakarta/commons/proper/httpclient/branches/HTTPCLIENT_2_0_BRANCH/

## 21 November 2004 - HttpClient 3.0 beta1 released

We are pleased to announce the first beta release of HttpClient 3.0. As of this release the 3.0 API is frozen. We will now focus on creating additional documentation and test cases. All current HttpClient 2.0 users are strongly encouraged to migrate to 3.0. As always we encourage suggestions and bug reports. Please download and enjoy.

The HttpClient 3.0 site can be found here.

## 23 October 2004 - New HttpClient mailing lists

Starting today HttpClient has two new mailing lists for developer and user discussion. People previously subscribed to commons-httpclient-dev have been automatically moved to the new developer mailing list. People subscribed to commons-user who are interested in HttpClient will have to join the HttpClient user mailing list manually.

Please see the HttpClient mailing list page for (un)subscription and archive details.

## 11 October 2004 - HttpClient issue tracking in Bugzilla

HttpClient project has taken a very important step toward becoming a full-fledged Jakarta level project. From today, HttpClient is a separate project in Apache Bugzilla issue tracking system. It is no longer a component of the Commons project. Please use the following details when filing bug reports for 2.0 and 3.0 branches of HttpClient:

Product: | HttpClient
Component: | Commons HttpClient

Use the following URL for convenience: Jakarta HttpClient new issue report.

Currently HttpClient project is debating whether we should continue using Bugzilla as an issue tracking system or migrate to JIRA. JIRA is a newer, more flexible issue tracking system. However, JIRA is not open-source software. If you have a strong opinion on this matter, please let us know.

## 11 October 2004 - HttpClient 2.0.2 released

We are pleased to announce the latest stable release of HttpClient, version 2.0.2. This release greatly improves the performance of executing methods where the response contains little or no content. Please see the release notes for more detail.

Please download and enjoy.

## 19 September 2004 - HttpClient 3.0 alpha2 released

We are pleased to announce the final alpha release of HttpClient 3.0. At this point HttpClient is fully feature-complete and is just a few issue reports short of being code and documentation complete. All of the important new features such as the new preferences architecture and exception handling framework are completely documented. We strongly encourage comment and criticism of the current API so we can have everything worked out by the first beta release. Following this release the development effort will focus on stabilizing the 3.0 API and adding more documentation. Depending on on how well this release is received, as well as the quality and quantity of feedback, we are looking at an API freeze in one to two months time.

The preview of the HttpClient 3.0 site can be found here.

Please download and enjoy.

## 1 August 2004 - HttpClient 2.0.1 released

We are pleased to announce the latest stable release of HttpClient, version 2.0.1. This release contains a few minor bug fixes and enhancements. Please see the release notes for more detail.

Please download and enjoy.

## 17 May 2004 - HttpClient 3.0 alpha1 released

We are pleased to announce the first HttpClient 3.0 release. HttpClient 3.0 provides a wealth of features and enhancements that did not make it into the 2.0 release, while preserving API compatibility as much as possible. In a relatively few cases API compatibility with HttpClient 2.0 could not maintained.

Noteworthy enhancements include:

- New preference architecture
- Improved exception handling framework
- Granular non-standards configuration and tracking
- Improved authentication framework
- Plug-in mechanism for authentication modules
- Cookie specification plug-in mechanism
- Cross-site redirect support

We see our fellow Apache developers as well as other open-source projects already reliant on HttpClient as the primary target audience for this release. This is the right time to evaluate HttpClient 3.0 and give us some feedback, critique or other thought on the new API. Please feel free to file requests for additional features.

The goal of the second ALPHA release is to incorporate the feedback, polish the API, and update documentation. The next ALPHA release will target the wider audience beyond the Apache Jakarta and Apache WS communities.

Please download and let us know what you think.

## 16 April 2004 - Welcome Jakarta HttpClient!

By the count 26 votes in favor, none against, Jakarta Commons HttpClient as been promoted to the Jakarta sub-project level. The move to the Jakarta sub-project level is a next step in HttpClient evolution which will result in many exiting changes and new developments. So, stay tuned.

## 15 February 2004 - HttpClient 2.0 Final released

At last 2.0 final is upon us. This release represents a great deal of work by quite a number of people. We would like to thank all of those who contributed to this release.

Please download and enjoy.

## 16 January 2004 - HttpClient 2.0 Release Candidate 3 released

While a final 2.0 release still eludes us, we have continued to make good progress. This release fixes some significant bugs that crept into RC2. Assuming that there are no major bugs found in this release a final release should follow shortly.

## 13 October 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Release Candidate 2 released

Releasing a final version of HttpClient 2.0 by the end of Summer 2003, as originally planned, was not possible. There were a significant number of minor bugs reported against RC1. None of them were major, but verifying, fixing, and testing simply took time more time than anticipated. We are pleased to announce the second release candidate of HttpClient 2.0 and hope to follow up with a final release shortly.

At the same time we have been busy working on our next release, currently designated as 2.1. It it shaping up quite well. We already have a new preferences architecture in place that will help us provide greater control over HttpClient without polluting its API with too many options. We have also completely reworked redirect/authentication/retry logic and can now support cross-host redirects, a much complained about limitation of HttpClient 2.0.

## 1 August 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Release Candidate 1 released

The HttpClient 2.0 BETA development phase has been concluded. The number of bugs discovered in the course of the BETA development was surprisingly low. We are confident that HttpClient 2.0 has reached the required level of maturity, and we hope to have a final 2.0 release by the end of the Summer.

## 02 July 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Beta 2 released

This release contains some minor bug fixes and documentation enhancements. Most likely this will be the final beta release before 2.0 Release Candidate 1. As always thank you to the HttpClient users and developers for their efforts. Please download HttpClient 2.0 Beta 2 and enjoy.

## 25 May 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Beta 1 released

This is the first feature-complete release of HttpClient 2.0. A lot of effort has been put into making this release functional, stable and reliable. Many thanks to everyone who contributed code, time and testing. Please download HttpClient 2.0 Beta 1 and enjoy.

Note: The binary distributions were updated on 2 June, 2003 to fix a problem with the original jar's MANIFEST.MF. Using the original HttpClient jar from within a servlet container or J2EE managed environment may have caused some problems.

## 25 February 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Alpha 3 released

This is an intermediate alpha release. The build process used in the previous Alpha 2 changed from generating 4 build artifacts to a single distribution. This one zip contains everything: all the source, the binary jar, the logging dependancy, generated javadoc and required build files for Ant builds and JUnit tests.

> "One zip to rule them all, one zip to find them, one zip to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"

## 19 February, 2003 - Welcome new committer Michael Becke

Mike been an active contributor for many months. He has worked on a diverse range of problems with high quality results. In particular he is known for the massive HttpClient/HttpMultiClient merger that took place in December.

Welcome to Middle Earth Mike!

## 26 January 2003 - new mailing list archives

There are two new mailing list archives of the commons-httpclient-dev mailing list. It looks like someone up there is starting to like us!

- http://archives.apache.org/eyebrowse/SummarizeList?listId=128
- http://www.mail-archive.com/commons-httpclient-dev%40jakarta.apache.org/

## 25 January 2003 - HttpClient 2.0 Alpha 2 released

After many months and a great resurgence of developers, the new build of HttpClient is finally here. The new group of developers has done extensive refactoring to move the project along the new vision. The code base has reached a significant level of maturity and we expect that the beta builds will come quickly and that the final release of 2.0 is not far away!

Also check out the new HttpClient logo!

## 21 December, 2002 - Welcome new committer Oleg Kalnichevski

Oleg is the first committer to be voted in on the dedicated httpclient mailing list. Welcome to the fellowship Olegolas!

## 3 December, 2002 - HttpClient/HttpMultiClient merger

The initial merger of the top level classes HttpClient and HttpMultiClient is complete. Thanks for the patches and hard work from everyone particularly to Michale Becke for supplying the primary patch.

## 3 October, 2002 - commons-httpclient-dev mailing list

The mailing list was renamed to be commons-httpclient-dev. Sorry for the confusion.

If you wish to subscribe to this new mailing list, you can send mail to commons-httpclient-dev-subscribe@jakarta.apache.org

## 12 July, 2002 - HttpClient 2.0 Release Planning

The HttpClient project has go through some very active development leading up to Alpha 1 last year, but unfortunately lost momentum shortly after that. There is now renewed interest and greatly increased activity on the dev-commons mailing list. The committers and contributors are working on a new release plan for 2.0.

The 2.0 release plan is expected to be posted to the mailing list for review by July 22, 2002.

## 5 October, 2001 - HttpClient 2.0 Alpha 1 Released

The HttpClient revision 2.0 alpha 1 is available at http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-commons/release/commons-httpclient/v2.0/.

## 25 April, 2001 - HttpClient Proposal Accepted

The HttpClient proposal has been accepted by the Jakarta Commons team and the source has been moved into the Subversion repository.

## 18 April, 2001 - HttpClient Proposed

HttpClient, originally developed by the Jakarta Slide team, has been proposed as a Jakarta Commons component.