SonarQube v8.5 and Beyond: Where did all the plugins go?

Hey SonarQube Users!

An eagle-eyed SonarQube operator upgrading to SonarQube v8.5 might realize something that looks strange after downloading SonarQube.

Where have all the plugins gone? :exploding_head:

The extensions/plugins folder, which was once the home of up to 35 plugins (depending on your SonarQube edition), is now empty. You won’t find them in the Marketplace either.

This is on purpose!

As of SonarQube v8.5 all of SonarQube’s core features, including the language analysis functionality developed at SonarSource, are embedded into the core of SonarQube.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did SonarSource make this change?

We believe this will make installing, operating, and updating a SonarQube instance much simpler, and increase the stability of your SonarQube instance. This change also means that new language features are available exclusively in new SonarQube versions.

What about the other SonarSource plugins (Authentication, SCM integration)?

This marks the end of a journey happening bit by bit in the SonarQube v8.x series.

In fact, for a few versions, features that were once supplied by plugins (such as LDAP/SAML/GitHub Authentication) are now built directly into SonarQube.

We finished this project in the SonarQube v8.5 release by not only moving the language analysis functionality into the core but also the feature set that provides integration with Git and SVN SCM systems.

What happens if there’s a bug in a language analyzer?

If there’s a Blocker issue in functionality, you can expect a bugfix release of SonarQube.

If there are no plugins, how do I upgrade my analyzers?

Each minor release of SonarQube will contain all the cumulative language analysis upgrades made since the previous release.

Does this change impact all editions of SonarQube?

Yes! And, whether it’s the analysis of Swift for Developer Edition or COBOL for Enterprise Edition, everything your edition offers is built-in to the Edition you downloaded. No need to fiddle with plugins anymore.

What happens to the Marketplace?

Community-supported plugins will still be listed there, available to install and update. SonarSource-provided functionality will not be listed there.

The Plugin Version Matrix shows that [SonarSource Developed Plugin] is not compatible with the latest versions of SonarQube, is the feature that the plugin provided gone?

Nope! Just built-in. When we get to SonarQube v8.x LTS, this will look far less confusing (only Community-supported plugins will be listed).

So…. what goes in the /extensions/plugins folder now?

Any Community-supported plugins belong there.

I used to remove plugins to stop certain files from being analyzed, what now?

Narrow the Focus and add global exclusions if you want to keep certain files from being analyzed.

I have other questions, how do I raise them?

Please raise a new topic in Get Help > SonarQube

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