Need Spring version# - only have spring.jar file

Question

I've inherited an app that uses Spring. The original developers are not available. The Spring jar file is just "spring.jar", so there's no version# in the filename to help me. I'd like to download the Spring source corresponding to the jar file. The MANIFEST.MF file has "Spring-Version: 1.2" however that's not precise enough. I've looked at version 1.2.1 and 1.2.9 and it doesn't match up quite right. The key thing is that org.springframework.web.servlet.view.AbstractCachingViewResolver has a prepareView method which is called from resolveViewName and it does not seem to be in 1.2.1 or 1.2.9.

Is there any easy way to track down the right version?

Answer 1

How about checksumming the JAR file and comparing it to the spring.jar files in the distributions from SpringSource? Might take an hour or so to do the downloads, but it should be definitive.

Answer 2

This will do it:

import org.springframework.core.SpringVersion;

public class VersionChecker
{
    public static void main(String [] args)
    {
        SpringVersion version = new SpringVersion();

        System.out.println("version: " + version.getVersion());
    }
}

Compile and run this with spring.jar in your CLASSPATH and it'll display the version for you. See the javadocs as well.

Answer 3

According to mvnrepository.com 1.2.9 weights 2.2MB and 1.2.1 weights 2.0MB, that page also has a link for downloading both. I think the weight difference is enough for comparing the files. If you can't see the difference just checksum. If you can't see a relation neither with 1.2.1 nor 1.2.9 you can use the page to download any other version quickly (I use it often)

NOTE: If your JAR is below 2.0MB then I'm afraid duffymo has reason and your JAR is 1.2

Answer 4

You can try looking inside the jar's MANIFEST.MF in the META-INF directory - it should indicate what version yo're working with.

Answer 5

The really easy way is to get the MD5 sum of the archive and google it. Many sites that store .jar archives also index the MD5 sums which Google then finds easily. This works really well for pretty much any Java components.

$ md5sum spring-2.5.5.jar
82a2134b227f717066da4f4b059925d3

http://www.google.com/search?q=82a2134b227f717066da4f4b059925d3