What’s New in Spring Boot 2.6? Key Features and Configuration Changes

1. Cookie SameSite Support

Strict – cookies sent only for same‑site requests.

Lax – safe cross‑site requests can send cookies.

None – disables SameSite restriction; must be used with Secure.

2. Reactive Session Personalization

The current version allows dynamic configuration of the reactive session timeout.

server.reactive.session.timeout=30

3. Custom Data‑Masking Rules

Spring Boot 2.3 introduced configuration properties for masking sensitive endpoint data; the same mechanism continues in 2.6.

4. Automatic Redis Connection Pool Configuration

If commons-pool2.jar is on the classpath, Spring Boot automatically configures a Redis connection pool for both Jedis and Lettuce.

To disable the pool:

spring.redis.jedis.pool.enabled=false<br/>spring.redis.lettuce.pool.enabled=false

5. New Runtime Java Information Endpoint

management.info.java.enabled=true

Example JSON output:

{
  "java": {
    "vendor": "BellSoft",
    "version": "17",
    "runtime": {
      "name": "OpenJDK Runtime Environment",
      "version": "17+35-LTS"
    },
    "jvm": {
      "name": "OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM",
      "vendor": "BellSoft",
      "version": "17+35-LTS"
    }
  }
}

6. Build‑Info Personalization

Spring Boot Maven plugin can generate build-info.properties automatically.

<plugin>
  <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
  <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
  <configuration>
    <excludeInfoProperties>
      <excludeInfoProperty>version</excludeInfoProperty>
    </excludeInfoProperties>
  </configuration>
</plugin>

7. Startup Metrics

application.started.time: time to start the application<br/>application.ready.time: time until the app is ready to serve requests

8. Disk Space Metrics

disk.free  – free disk space<br/>disk.total – total disk capacity

9. Docker Image Build Enhancements

Spring Boot’s built‑in docker‑maven‑plugin now supports custom image tags, network configuration, and build‑cache settings.

10. Important Changes – Removed or Renamed Properties

Spring MVC and servlet properties moved (e.g., spring.web.locale → spring.mvc.locale).

LoggingSystemProperties replaced by LogbackLoggingSystemProperties.

ConfigFileApplicationListener removed; use ConfigDataEnvironmentPostProcessor.

Undertow filter initialization properties renamed.

SpringApplication.contextClass() removed; use contextFactory().

CloudFoundryVcapEnvironmentPostProcessor largely removed – use with caution.

ApplicationEnvironmentPreparedEvent and ApplicationStartingEvent methods removed for BootstrapContext support.

Spring Data Cassandra health endpoint removed.

11. Bean Circular References Disabled by Default

Circular bean references are prohibited; to allow them set:

spring.main.allow-circular-references=true

12. Spring MVC Default Path‑Matching Strategy

The default strategy changed from AntPathMatcher to PathPatternParser , offering better performance for complex patterns.

To revert to AntPathMatcher:

spring.mvc.pathmatch.matching-strategy=ant-path-matcher

13. Executor Environment Info Disabled

management.info.env.enabled=true

14. Application Startup Log Property Renamed

The property logged as spring.boot.application.running is now spring.boot.application.read.

Reference

Detailed property change list: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-boot/wiki/Spring-Boot-2.6.0-Configuration-Changelog