What's new in Kotlin 1.9.0

Compatibility of the kapt compiler plugin with the K2 compiler

You can use the kapt plugin in your project along with the K2 compiler, but with some restrictions. Despite setting languageVersion to 2.0, the kapt compiler plugin still utilizes the old compiler.

If you execute the kapt compiler plugin within a project where languageVersion is set to 2.0, kapt will automatically switch to 1.9 and disable specific version compatibility checks. This behavior is equivalent to including the following command arguments:

• -Xskip-metadata-version-check

• -Xskip-prerelease-check

• -Xallow-unstable-dependencies

These checks are exclusively disabled for kapt tasks. All other compilation tasks will continue to utilize the new K2 compiler.

If you encounter any issues when using kapt with the K2 compiler, please report them to our issue tracker.

Try the K2 compiler in your project

Starting with 1.9.0 and until the release of Kotlin 2.0, you can easily test the K2 compiler by adding the kotlin.experimental.tryK2=true Gradle property to your gradle.properties file. You can also run the following command:

This Gradle property automatically sets the language version to 2.0 and updates the build report with the number of Kotlin tasks compiled using the K2 compiler compared to the current compiler:

Gradle build reports

Gradle build reports now show whether the current or the K2 compiler was used to compile the code. In Kotlin 1.9.0, you can see this information in your Gradle build scans:

You can also find the Kotlin version used in the project right in the build report:

Current K2 compiler limitations

Enabling K2 in your Gradle project comes with certain limitations that can affect projects using Gradle versions below 8.3 in the following cases:

• Compilation of source code from buildSrc.

• Compilation of Gradle plugins in included builds.

• Compilation of other Gradle plugins if they are used in projects with Gradle versions below 8.3.

• Building Gradle plugin dependencies.

If you encounter any of the problems mentioned above, you can take the following steps to address them:

• Set the language version for buildSrc, any Gradle plugins, and their dependencies:

• Update the Gradle version in your project to 8.3 when it becomes available.

Leave your feedback on the new K2 compiler

We'd appreciate any feedback you may have!

• Provide your feedback directly to K2 developers Kotlin's Slack – get an invite and join the #k2-early-adopters channel.

• Report any problems you've faced with the new K2 compiler on our issue tracker.

• Enable the Send usage statistics option to allow JetBrains to collect anonymous data about K2 usage.

Stable replacement of the enum class values function

In 1.8.20, the entries property for enum classes was introduced as an Experimental feature. The entries property is a modern and performant replacement for the synthetic values() function. In 1.9.0, the entries property is Stable.

For more information about the entries property for enum classes, see What's new in Kotlin 1.8.20.

Stable data objects for symmetry with data classes

Data object declarations, which were introduced in Kotlin 1.8.20, are now Stable. This includes the functions added for symmetry with data classes: toString(), equals(), and hashCode().

This feature is particularly useful with sealed hierarchies (like a sealed class or sealed interface hierarchy), because data object declarations can be used conveniently alongside data class declarations. In this example, declaring EndOfFile as a data object instead of a plain object means that it automatically has a toString() function without the need to override it manually. This maintains symmetry with the accompanying data class definitions.

For more information, see What's new in Kotlin 1.8.20.

Support for secondary constructors with bodies in inline value classes

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the use of secondary constructors with bodies in inline value classes is available by default:

Previously, Kotlin allowed only public primary constructors in inline classes. As a result, it was impossible to encapsulate underlying values or create an inline class that would represent some constrained values.

As Kotlin developed, these issues were fixed. Kotlin 1.4.30 lifted restrictions on init blocks and then Kotlin 1.8.20 came with a preview of secondary constructors with bodies. They are now available by default. Learn more about the development of Kotlin inline classes in this KEEP.

Deprecation of JvmDefault annotation and legacy -Xjvm-default modes

Starting from Kotlin 1.5, the usage of the JvmDefault annotation has been deprecated in favor of the newer -Xjvm-default modes: all and all-compatibility. With the introduction of JvmDefaultWithoutCompatibility in Kotlin 1.4 and JvmDefaultWithCompatibility in Kotlin 1.6, these modes offer comprehensive control over the generation of DefaultImpls classes, ensuring seamless compatibility with older Kotlin code.

Consequently in Kotlin 1.9.0, the JvmDefault annotation no longer holds any significance and has been marked as deprecated, resulting in an error. It will eventually be removed from Kotlin.

Preview of custom memory allocator

Kotlin 1.9.0 introduces the preview of a custom memory allocator. Its allocation system improves the runtime performance of the Kotlin/Native memory manager.

The current object allocation system in Kotlin/Native uses a general-purpose allocator that doesn't have the functionality for efficient garbage collection. To compensate, it maintains thread-local linked lists of all allocated objects before the garbage collector (GC) merges them into a single list, which can be iterated during sweeping. This approach comes with several performance downsides:

• The sweeping order lacks memory locality and often results in scattered memory access patterns, leading to potential performance issues.

• Linked lists require additional memory for each object, increasing memory usage, particularly when dealing with many small objects.

• The single list of allocated objects makes it challenging to parallelize sweeping, which can cause memory usage problems when mutator threads allocate objects faster than the GC thread can collect them.

To address these issues, Kotlin 1.9.0 introduces a preview of the custom allocator. It divides system memory into pages, allowing independent sweeping in consecutive order. Each allocation becomes a memory block within a page, and the page keeps track of block sizes. Different page types are optimized for various allocation sizes. The consecutive arrangement of memory blocks ensures efficient iteration through all allocated blocks.

When a thread allocates memory, it searches for a suitable page based on the allocation size. Threads maintain a set of pages for different size categories. Typically, the current page for a given size can accommodate the allocation. If not, the thread requests a different page from the shared allocation space. This page may already be available, require sweeping, or should be created first.

The new allocator allows having multiple independent allocation spaces simultaneously, which will allow the Kotlin team to experiment with different page layouts to improve performance even further.

For more information on the design of the new allocator, see this README.

Objective-C or Swift object deallocation hook on the main thread

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the Objective-C or Swift object deallocation hook is called on the main thread if the object is passed to Kotlin there. The way the Kotlin/Native memory manager previously handled references to Objective-C objects could lead to memory leaks. We believe the new behavior should improve the robustness of the memory manager.

Consider an Objective-C object that is referenced in Kotlin code, for example, when passed as an argument, returned by a function, or retrieved from a collection. In this case, Kotlin creates its own object that holds the reference to the Objective-C object. When the Kotlin object gets deallocated, the Kotlin/Native runtime calls the objc_release function that releases that Objective-C reference.

Previously, the Kotlin/Native memory manager ran objc_release on a special GC thread. If it's the last object reference, the object gets deallocated. Issues could come up when Objective-C objects have custom deallocation hooks like the dealloc method in Objective-C or the deinit block in Swift, and these hooks expect to be called on a specific thread.

Since hooks for objects on the main thread usually expect to be called there, Kotlin/Native runtime now calls objc_release on the main thread as well. It should cover the cases when the Objective-C object was passed to Kotlin on the main thread, creating a Kotlin peer object there. This only works if the main dispatch queue is processed, which is the case for regular UI applications. When it's not the main queue or the object was passed to Kotlin on a thread other than main, the objc_release is called on a special GC thread as before.

No object initialization when accessing constant values in Kotlin/Native

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the Kotlin/Native backend doesn't initialize objects when accessing const val fields:

The behavior is now unified with Kotlin/JVM, where the implementation is consistent with Java and objects are never initialized in this case. You can also expect some performance improvements in your Kotlin/Native projects thanks to this change.

Ability to configure standalone mode for iOS simulator tests in Kotlin/Native

By default, when running iOS simulator tests for Kotlin/Native, the --standalone flag is used to avoid manual simulator booting and shutdown. In 1.9.0, you can now configure whether this flag is used in a Gradle task via the standalone property. By default, the --standalone flag is used so standalone mode is enabled.

Here is an example of how to disable standalone mode in your build.gradle.kts file:

Library linkage in Kotlin/Native

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the Kotlin/Native compiler treats linkage issues in Kotlin libraries the same way as Kotlin/JVM. You might face such issues if the author of one third-party Kotlin library makes an incompatible change in experimental APIs that another third-party Kotlin library consumes.

Now builds don't fail during compilation in case of linkage issues between third-party Kotlin libraries. Instead, you'll only encounter these errors in run time, exactly as on the JVM.

The Kotlin/Native compiler reports warnings every time it detects issues with library linkage. You can find such warnings in your compilation logs, for example:

You can further configure or even disable this behavior in your projects:

• If you don't want to see these warnings in your compilation logs, suppress them with the -Xpartial-linkage-loglevel=INFO compiler option.

• It's also possible to raise the severity of reported warnings to compilation errors with -Xpartial-linkage-loglevel=ERROR. In this case, the compilation fails and you'll see all the errors in the compilation log. Use this option to examine the linkage issues more closely.

• If you face unexpected problems with this feature, you can always opt out with the -Xpartial-linkage=disable compiler option. Don't hesitate to report such cases to our issue tracker.

Compiler option for C interop implicit integer conversions

We have introduced a compiler option for C interop that allows you to use implicit integer conversions. After careful consideration, we've introduced this compiler option to prevent unintentional use as this feature still has room for improvement and our aim is to have an API of the highest quality.

In this code sample an implicit integer conversion allows options = 0 even though options has unsigned type UInt and 0 is signed.

To use implicit conversions with native interop libraries, use the -XXLanguage:+ImplicitSignedToUnsignedIntegerConversion compiler option.

You can configure this in your Gradle build.gradle.kts file:

Changes to Android target support

We continue our efforts to stabilize Kotlin Multiplatform. An essential step is to provide first-class support for the Android target. We're excited to announce that in the future, the Android team from Google will provide its own Gradle plugin to support Android in Kotlin Multiplatform.

To open the way for this new solution from Google, we're renaming the android block in the current Kotlin DSL in 1.9.0. Please change all the occurrences of the android block to androidTarget in your build scripts. This is a temporary change that is necessary to free the android name for the upcoming DSL from Google.

The Google plugin will be the preferred way of working with Android in multiplatform projects. When it's ready, we'll provide the necessary migration instructions so that you'll be able to use the short android name as before.

New Android source set layout enabled by default

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the new Android source set layout is the default. It replaced the previous naming schema for directories, which was confusing in multiple ways. The new layout has a number of advantages:

• Simplified type semantics – The new Android source layout provides clear and consistent naming conventions that help to distinguish between different types of source sets.

• Improved source directory layout – With the new layout, the SourceDirectories arrangement becomes more coherent, making it easier to organize code and locate source files.

• Clear naming schema for Gradle configurations – The schema is now more consistent and predictable in both KotlinSourceSets and AndroidSourceSets.

The new layout requires the Android Gradle plugin version 7.0 or later and is supported in Android Studio 2022.3 and later. See our migration guide to make the necessary changes in your build.gradle(.kts) file.

Preview of the Gradle configuration cache

Kotlin 1.9.0 comes with support for the Gradle configuration cache in multiplatform libraries. If you're a library author, you can already benefit from the improved build performance.

The Gradle configuration cache speeds up the build process by reusing the results of the configuration phase for subsequent builds. The feature has become Stable since Gradle 8.1. To enable it, follow the instructions in the Gradle documentation.

Size-related optimizations

Kotlin 1.9.0 introduces significant size improvements for WebAssembly (Wasm) projects. Comparing two "Hello World" projects, the code footprint for Wasm in Kotlin 1.9.0 is now over 10 times smaller than in Kotlin 1.8.20.

These size optimizations result in more efficient resource utilization and improved performance when targeting Wasm platforms with Kotlin code.

Updates in JavaScript interop

This Kotlin update introduces changes to the interoperability between Kotlin and JavaScript for Kotlin/Wasm. As Kotlin/Wasm is an Experimental feature, certain limitations apply to its interoperability.

Kotlin/Wasm in Kotlin Playground

Kotlin Playground supports the Kotlin/Wasm target. You can write, run, and share your Kotlin code that targets the Kotlin/Wasm. Check it out!

Removal of the old Kotlin/JS compiler

In Kotlin 1.8.0, we announced that the IR-based backend became Stable. Since then, not specifying the compiler has become an error, and using the old compiler leads to warnings.

In Kotlin 1.9.0, using the old backend results in an error. Please migrate to the IR compiler by following our migration guide.

Deprecation of the Kotlin/JS Gradle plugin

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the kotlin-js Gradle plugin is deprecated. We encourage you to use the kotlin-multiplatform Gradle plugin with the js() target instead.

The functionality of the Kotlin/JS Gradle plugin essentially duplicated the kotlin-multiplatform plugin and shared the same implementation under the hood. This overlap created confusion and increased maintenance load on the Kotlin team.

Refer to our Compatibility guide for Kotlin Multiplatform for migration instructions. If you find any issues that aren't covered in the guide, please report them to our issue tracker.

Deprecation of external enum

In Kotlin 1.9.0, the use of external enums will be deprecated due to issues with static enum members like entries, that can't exist outside Kotlin. We recommend using an external sealed class with object subclasses instead:

By switching to an external sealed class with object subclasses, you can achieve similar functionality to external enums while avoiding the problems associated with default methods.

Starting from Kotlin 1.9.0, the use of external enums will be marked as deprecated. We encourage you to update your code to utilize the suggested external sealed class implementation for compatibility and future maintenance.

Experimental support for ES6 classes and modules

This release introduces Experimental support for ES6 modules and generation of ES6 classes:

• Modules offer a way to simplify your codebase and improve maintainability.

• Classes allow you to incorporate object-oriented programming (OOP) principles, resulting in cleaner and more intuitive code.

To enable these features, update your build.gradle.kts file accordingly:

Learn more about ECMAScript 2015 (ES6) in the official documentation.

Changed default destination of JS production distribution

Prior to Kotlin 1.9.0, the distribution target directory was build/distributions. However, this is a common directory for Gradle archives. To resolve this issue, we've changed the default distribution target directory in Kotlin 1.9.0 to: build/dist/<targetName>/<binaryName>.

For example, productionExecutable was in build/distributions. In Kotlin 1.9.0, it's in build/dist/js/productionExecutable.

Extract org.w3c declarations from stdlib-js

Since Kotlin 1.9.0, the stdlib-js no longer includes org.w3c declarations. Instead, these declarations have been moved to a separate Gradle dependency. When you add the Kotlin Multiplatform Gradle plugin to your build.gradle.kts file, these declarations will be automatically included in your project, similar to the standard library.

There is no need for any manual action or migration. The necessary adjustments will be handled automatically.

Removed classpath property

In Kotlin 1.7.0, we announced the start of a deprecation cycle for the KotlinCompile task's property: classpath. The deprecation level was raised to ERROR in Kotlin 1.8.0. In this release, we've finally removed the classpath property. All compile tasks should now use the libraries input for a list of libraries required for compilation.

New compiler options

The Kotlin Gradle plugin now provides new properties for opt-ins and the compiler's progressive mode.

• To opt in to new APIs, you can now use the optIn property and pass a list of strings like: optIn.set(listOf(a, b, c)).

• To enable progressive mode, use progressiveMode.set(true).

Project-level compiler options for Kotlin/JVM

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, a new compilerOptions block is available inside the kotlin configuration block:

It makes configuring compiler options much easier. However, it is important to note some important details:

• This configuration only works on the project level.

• For the Android plugin, this block configures the same object as:

• The android.kotlinOptions and kotlin.compilerOptions configuration blocks override each other. The last (lowest) block in the build file always takes effect.

• If moduleName is configured on the project level, its value could be changed when passed to the compiler. It's not the case for the main compilation, but for other types, for example, test sources, the Kotlin Gradle plugin will add the _test suffix.

• The configuration inside the tasks.withType<KotlinJvmCompile>().configureEach {} (or tasks.named<KotlinJvmCompile>("compileKotlin") { }) overrides both kotlin.compilerOptions and android.kotlinOptions.

Compiler option for Kotlin/Native module name

The Kotlin/Native module-name compiler option is now easily available in the Kotlin Gradle plugin.

This option specifies a name for the compilation module and can also be used for adding a name prefix for declarations exported to Objective-C.

You can now set the module name directly in the compilerOptions block of your Gradle build files:

Separate compiler plugins for official Kotlin libraries

Kotlin 1.9.0 introduces separate compiler plugins for its official libraries. Previously, compiler plugins were embedded into their corresponding Gradle plugins. This could cause compatibility issues in case the compiler plugin was compiled against a Kotlin version higher than the Gradle build's Kotlin runtime version.

Now compiler plugins are added as separate dependencies, so you'll no longer face compatibility issues with older Gradle versions. Another major advantage of the new approach is that new compiler plugins can be used with other build systems like Bazel.

Here's the list of new compiler plugins we're now publishing to Maven Central:

• kotlin-atomicfu-compiler-plugin

• kotlin-allopen-compiler-plugin

• kotlin-lombok-compiler-plugin

• kotlin-noarg-compiler-plugin

• kotlin-sam-with-receiver-compiler-plugin

• kotlinx-serialization-compiler-plugin

Every plugin has its -embeddable counterpart, for example, kotlin-allopen-compiler-plugin-embeddable is designed for working with the kotlin-compiler-embeddable artifact, the default option for scripting artifacts.

Gradle adds these plugins as compiler arguments. You don't need to make any changes to your existing projects.

Incremented minimum supported version

Starting with Kotlin 1.9.0, the minimum supported Android Gradle plugin version is 4.2.2.

See the Kotlin Gradle plugin's compatibility with available Gradle versions in our documentation.

kapt doesn't cause eager task creation in Gradle

Prior to 1.9.0, the kapt compiler plugin caused eager task creation by requesting the configured instance of the Kotlin compilation task. This behavior has been fixed in Kotlin 1.9.0. If you use the default configuration for your build.gradle.kts file then your setup is not affected by this change.

For more information, see our YouTrack ticket.

Programmatic configuration of the JVM target validation mode

Before Kotlin 1.9.0, there was only one way to adjust the detection of JVM target incompatibility between Kotlin and Java. You had to set kotlin.jvm.target.validation.mode=ERROR in your gradle.properties for the whole project.

You can now also configure it on the task level in your build.gradle.kts file:

Stable ..< operator for open-ended ranges

The new ..< operator for open-ended ranges that was introduced in Kotlin 1.7.20 and became Stable in 1.8.0. In 1.9.0, the standard library API for working with open-ended ranges is also Stable.

Our research shows that the new ..< operator makes it easier to understand when an open-ended range is declared. If you use the until infix function, it's easy to make the mistake of assuming that the upper bound is included.

Here is an example using the until function:

And here is an example using the new ..< operator:

For more information about what you can do with this operator, see What's new in Kotlin 1.7.20.

Stable time API

Since 1.3.50, we have previewed a new time measurement API. The duration part of the API became Stable in 1.6.0. In 1.9.0, the remaining time measurement API is Stable.

The old time API provided the measureTimeMillis and measureNanoTime functions, which aren't intuitive to use. Although it is clear that they both measure time in different units, it isn't clear that measureTimeMillisuses a wall clock to measure time, whereas measureNanoTime uses a monotonic time source. The new time API resolves this and other issues to make the API more user friendly.

With the new time API, you can easily:

• Measure the time taken to execute some code using a monotonic time source with your desired time unit.

• Mark a moment in time.

• Compare and find the difference between two moments in time.

• Check how much time has passed since a specific moment in time.

• Check whether the current time has passed a specific moment in time.

The Kotlin/Native standard library's journey towards stabilization

As our standard library for Kotlin/Native continues to grow, we decided that it was time for a complete review to ensure that it meets our high standards. As part of this, we carefully reviewed every existing public signature. For each signature, we considered whether it:

• Has a unique purpose.

• Is consistent with other Kotlin APIs.

• Has similar behavior to its counterpart for the JVM.

• Is future-proof.

Based on these considerations, we made one of the following decisions:

• Made it Stable.

• Made it Experimental.

• Marked it as private.

• Modified its behavior.

• Moved it to a different location.

• Deprecated it.

• Marked it as obsolete.

We won't list all of the results of the review here, but here are some of the highlights:

• We stabilized the Atomics API.

• We made kotlinx.cinterop Experimental and now require different opt-ins for the package to be used. For more information, see Explicit C-interoperability stability guarantees.

• We marked the Worker class and its related APIs as obsolete.

• We marked the BitSet class as obsolete.

• We marked all public APIs in the kotlin.native.internal package as private or moved them to other packages.

Stable @Volatile annotation

If you annotate a var property with @Volatile, then the backing field is marked so that any reads or writes to this field are atomic, and writes are always made visible to other threads.

Prior to 1.8.20, the kotlin.jvm.Volatile annotation was available in the common standard library. However, this annotation was only effective on the JVM. If you used it on other platforms, it was ignored, which led to errors.

In 1.8.20, we introduced an experimental common annotation, kotlin.concurrent.Volatile, which you could preview in both the JVM and Kotlin/Native.

In 1.9.0, kotlin.concurrent.Volatile is Stable. If you use kotlin.jvm.Volatile in your multiplatform projects, we recommend that you migrate to kotlin.concurrent.Volatile.

New common function to get regex capture group by name

Prior to 1.9.0, every platform had its own extension to get a regular expression capture group by its name from a regular expression match. However there was no common function. It wasn't possible to have a common function prior to Kotlin 1.8.0, because the standard library still supported JVM targets 1.6 and 1.7.

As of Kotlin 1.8.0, the standard library is compiled with JVM target 1.8. So in 1.9.0, there is now a common groups function that you can use to retrieve a group's contents by its name for a regular expression match. This is useful when you want to access the results of regular expression matches belonging to a particular capture group.

Here is an example with a regular expression containing three capture groups: city, state, and areaCode. You can use these group names to access the matched values:

New path utility to create parent directories

In 1.9.0 there is a new createParentDirectories() extension function that you can use to create a new file with all the necessary parent directories. When you provide a file path to createParentDirectories() it checks whether the parent directories already exist. If they do, it does nothing. However, if they do not, it creates them for you.

createParentDirectories() is particularly useful when you are copying files. For example, you can use it in combination with the copyToRecursively() function:

New HexFormat class to format and parse hexadecimals

In 1.9.0, the HexFormat class and its related extension functions are provided as an Experimental feature that allows you to convert between numerical values and hexadecimal strings. Specifically, you can use the extension functions to convert between hexadecimal strings and ByteArrays or other numeric types (Int, Short, Long).

For example:

The HexFormat class includes formatting options that you can configure with the HexFormat{} builder.

If you are working with ByteArrays you have the following options, which are configurable by properties:

For example:

If you are working with numeric types, you have the following options, which are configurable by properties:

For example:

Check the IDE version

IntelliJ IDEA 2022.3.3 and 2023.1.1 automatically suggest updating the Kotlin plugin to version 1.9.0. IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 will include the Kotlin 1.9.0 plugin.

Android Studio Giraffe (223) and Hedgehog (231) will support Kotlin 1.9.0 in their upcoming releases.

The new command-line compiler is available for download on the GitHub release page.

Configure Gradle settings

To download Kotlin artifacts and dependencies, update your settings.gradle(.kts) file to use the Maven Central repository:

If the repository is not specified, Gradle uses the sunset JCenter repository, which could lead to issues with Kotlin artifacts.