Apache Grails, a 20-year-old Java/Groovy web framework, completed an 18-month migration from single-organization stewardship to the Apache Software Foundation, graduating as a Top-Level Project in September 2025. The migration involved consolidating 24+ GitHub repositories into a mono-repo, updating Maven coordinates to org.apache.grails, implementing reproducible builds with GitHub Actions, and auditing license compliance across 327 artifacts. The effort resulted in 2,000+ commits, 1.2 million lines removed, and release times dropping from 3 weeks to 2 hours. Key lessons include engaging ASF infrastructure early, planning the end state before starting, and aggressively consolidating repositories to reduce maintenance overhead.
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2,000 commits, 1.2 million lines removed, and 18 months to graduate Apache Grails to a Top-Level Project.Apache Grails: 20 years of history in 60 secondsWhy we moved Apache Grails to the Apache Software FoundationThe 18-month Apache migration playbook: How we did itApache Grails 7 release cadence and graduation timelineKey takeaways for migrating your open source project to the ASFWhat Apache Grails TLP graduation means for users and contributorsGet involved with Apache Grails todayMore from We Love Open SourceAbout the AuthorSort: