eXist-db 6.1.0 is available (also 4.11.1 and 5.5.1)

After almost a year since our last releases, I am delighted to announce the release of eXist-db versions 6.1.0, 5.5.1, and 4.11.1.

eXist-db 6.x.x is our main active line of development, and we have recommended this version series for all users for some time now. eXist-db 6.1.0 includes numerous improvements, optimisations, and bug fixes. In particular it adds a number of additional functions from XQuery 3.1 that were previously missing, including: fn:transform, fn:default-language, fn:format-integer, fn:round, fn:path, fn:collation-key, fn:n:element-with-id, fn:nilled, fn:uri-collection, and map:find. With these additions, eXist-db 6.1.0 now supports all XQuery 3.1 functions.

For those users already on the 6.x.x series, eXist-db 6.1.0 is backwards binary compatible with previous 6.x.x versions, which should make upgrading simple with no changes required to XQuery or XSLT application code. For those users migrating from 4.x.x or 5.x.x versions to 6.x.x a full backup and restore of the database will be required and possibly some small changes to XQuery and XSLT application code.

The 4.x.x and 5.x.x series of eXist-db should be considered deprecated, our new releases of 4.x.x and 5.x.x include a number of crucial bug fixes for those users who cannot yet upgrade to 6.x.x. The 5.x.x series also includes a small handful of selected features and improvements that have been backported from the 6.x.x series.

Finally, for those users considering a major upgrade from 4.x.x or 5.x.x to 6.x.x, you may wish to wait for the upcoming release of eXist-db 7.0.0. This release will update eXist-db from Java 8 to Java 17, and greatly improve its XQuery compliance with the W3C specifications. The improvements in compliance mean that some small changes to your XQuery application code may be required, but we believe that this is most worthwhile. We expect to release eXist-db 7.0.0 with Q1 of 2023.

The full release notes and downloads can be found here:

1. eXist-db 6.1.0 - https://github.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-6.1.0

2. eXist-db 5.5.1 - https://github.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-5.5.1

3. eXist-db 4.11.1 - https://github.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-4.11.1

As well as thanking all contributors, I would also like to especially thank the Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, https://history.state.gov, which commissioned several of the improvements in eXist 6.1.0 through Evolved Binary https://www.evolvedbinary.com and eXist Solutions https://www.existsolutions.com, and worked with Evolved Binary to make this release a reality.

Best wishes. Adam.