Intro

The Commons Configuration software library provides a generic configuration interface which enables a Java application to read configuration data from a variety of sources. Commons Configuration provides typed access to single, and multi-valued configuration parameters as demonstrated by the following code:


Double double = config.getDouble("number");
Integer integer = config.getInteger("number");

Configuration parameters may be loaded from the following sources:

Properties files
XML documents
Windows INI files
Property list files (plist)
JNDI
JDBC Datasource
System properties
Applet parameters
Servlet parameters

Configuration objects are created using configuration builders. Different configuration sources can be mixed using a CombinedConfigurationBuilder and a CombinedConfiguration. Additional sources of configuration parameters can be created by using custom configuration objects. This customization can be achieved by extending AbstractConfiguration or AbstractHierarchicalConfiguration.

The full Javadoc API documentation is available here.

Commons Configuration 1.x and 2.x

New projects should use 2.x, first released in 2016, under the Maven coordinates org.apache.commons:commons-configuration2.

The 1.x codebase no longer receives updates. Denial of service issues that rely on loading untrusted data from configuration files, or passing untrusted data to the API, are outside the scope of the 1.x security model and will not be fixed. Upgrading your application from 1.x to 2.x will require at least changing import statement code changes and possibly more, see the migration guide for 2.0.

The most recent Commons Configuration 2.x release can be downloaded from the Apache download area. The artifacts have also been deployed to Maven central. Commons Configuration 1.x artifacts are also available under their original Maven coordinates.

History

Commons Configuration started as code in Apache JServ. The JServ code was subsequently added to Jakarta Turbine. After Jakarta Turbine, this configuration interface moved to Jakarta Velocity and underwent various improvements. After Velocity, this code was introduced to the Apache Commons as ExtendedProperties. Configuration began life in the Commons as a Sandbox component and was promoted to the Commons Proper in late 2003.

Bugs

Bugs may be reported via the ASF JIRA system. Detailed information can be found on the issue tracking page.