flowable/flowable-engine · warning

Using Joda-Time DateTime has been deprecated and will be…

Error message

Using Joda-Time DateTime has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Variable {} in {} instance {} and sub-scope {} was a Joda-Time DateTime.

What it means

A deprecation warning logged by JodaDateTimeType.setValue when a process/task/scope variable holds a Joda-Time DateTime. Flowable stores it as millis and warns that Joda-Time support will be removed in a future version. It is not thrown, only logged; the variable is still persisted.

Solutions

  1. Migrate the variable value to java.time.Instant or java.util.Date before setting it
  2. Replace org.joda.time.DateTime with java.time.Instant/OffsetDateTime in the code that creates the value
  3. If Joda must stay temporarily, accept the warning and plan removal before the next Flowable major upgrade

Example fix

// before
execution.setVariable("dueDate", org.joda.time.DateTime.now());
// after
execution.setVariable("dueDate", java.time.Instant.now());
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (value instanceof org.joda.time.DateTime) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("use java.time instead of Joda DateTime for variable " + name); }

Type guard

boolean isJodaDateTime(Object v) { return v instanceof org.joda.time.DateTime; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Setting a variable to an org.joda.time.DateTime via e.g. execution.setVariable("x", dateTime) or a JodaDateTimeType instance when the variable has no taskId but a sub-scope (scopeType/scopeId/subScopeId logged).

Common situations: Legacy Activiti 5/6 codebases upgraded to Flowable that still use Joda-Time types; date-handling utilities written pre-java.time migration.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is deprecated and will be removed" — deprecation warnings for old API names, keywords, and options, and how to migrate before the removal release — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of flowable/flowable-engine@d6d39ce1c6 (2026-09-11). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7346d68230a30e04. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at modules/flowable-variable-service/src/main/java/org/flowable/variable/service/impl/types/JodaDateTimeType.java:66

        if (longValue != null) {
            return new DateTime(longValue);
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    public void setValue(Object value, ValueFields valueFields) {
        if (value != null) {
            if (valueFields.getTaskId() != null) {
                JodaDeprecationLogger.LOGGER.warn(
                        "Using Joda-Time DateTime has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Task Variable {} in task {} was a Joda-Time DateTime. ",
                        valueFields.getName(), valueFields.getTaskId());
            } else if (valueFields.getProcessInstanceId() != null) {
                JodaDeprecationLogger.LOGGER.warn(
                        "Using Joda-Time DateTime has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Process Variable {} in process instance {} and execution {} was a Joda-Time DateTime. ",
                        valueFields.getName(), valueFields.getProcessInstanceId(), valueFields.getExecutionId());
            } else {
                JodaDeprecationLogger.LOGGER.warn(
                        "Using Joda-Time DateTime has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version. Variable {} in {} instance {} and sub-scope {} was a Joda-Time DateTime. ",
                        valueFields.getName(), valueFields.getScopeType(), valueFields.getScopeId(), valueFields.getSubScopeId());
            }
            valueFields.setLongValue(((DateTime) value).getMillis());
        } else {
            valueFields.setLongValue(null);
        }
    }
}

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