CHANGELOG for the AWS SDK for Java

We are happy to announce that beginning with version 1.11.82, the source and ZIP distributions of the AWS SDK for Java now include a CHANGELOG.md file that lists the most notable changes for each release.

In the past, changes for each release of the AWS SDK for Java were published to the AWS Release Notes website, but this approach had some drawbacks. Customers wishing to view the set of changes for multiple versions on the website needed to run a search for each version they were interested in. Many customers acquire the source code through our GitHub repository, so viewing the release notes meant potentially opening a browser and navigating away from the code itself. Finally, although rare, sometimes there’s a delay between the release of a new version of the SDK and the availability of the release notes.

By implementing a changelog file, we hope to address these problems in a way that is simple and consistent with many other open source software projects, including other AWS SDKs like JavaScript and .NET. New changes are always prepended to the changelog file in a consistent format, so viewing the changes for multiple versions is now a breeze. The changelog is made available with the source and ZIP distributions, enabling customers to quickly access changes without opening a browser. As an added bonus, because it’s a simple text file, the changes up to the current version can easily be made available for viewing offline. Finally, the file is always updated along with the SDK source, so the list of changes is available as soon as the source code is available.

We hope that with this change, customers will find it easier than ever to keep up to date with the exciting changes being introduced in the AWS SDK for Java. As always, please let us know what you think in the comments below.