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+---
+title: Crystal 1.17.0 is released!
+version: 1.17.0
+date: 2025-07-16
+author: straight-shoota
+---
+
+We are announcing a new Crystal release 1.17.0 with several new features and bug
+fixes.
+
+Pre-built packages are available on [GitHub
+Releases](https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/releases/tag/1.17.0) and our
+official distribution channels. See
+[crystal-lang.org/install](https://crystal-lang.org/install/) for installation
+instructions.
+
+## Stats
+
+This release includes [187 changes since
+1.16.3](https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/pulls?q=is%3Apr+milestone%3A1.17.0)
+by 19 contributors.  We thank all the contributors for all the effort put into
+improving the language! ❤️
+
+## Changes
+
+Below we list the most remarkable changes in the language, compiler and stdlib.
+For more details, visit the [full
+changelog](https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/releases/tag/1.17.0).
+
+### Breaking
+
+The following changes break prior behavior of the compiler, but we expect them
+to not break much in existing code. If you notice any unexpected issues, please
+let us know in the [issue tracker] or [forum].
+
+#### `Colorize` only on TTY by default
+
+[`Colorize.on_tty_only!`] is now the default behavior. It seems sensible to have
+colorization only enabled implicitly when writing to a TTY the supports colors
+([#15881]).
+
+Previously, it would always be enabled unless the
+[`NO_COLOR`](https://no-color.org/) environment variable was set. Now the default
+honors this variable, checks the standard streams are TTYs and `TERM` is not
+`dumb`, just as `Colorize.on_tty_only!` did already.
+The old behaviour is available by setting [`Colorize.enabled=`] explicitly:
+
+```cr
+Colorize.enabled = !ENV["NO_COLOR"]?.try(&.empty?.!)
+```
+
+Calling `Colorize.on_tty_only!` is no longer necessary, unless you want to
+explicitly reset after the default is overridden.
+
+The new method [`Colorize.default_enabled?`] exposes the default logic for
+arbitrary IOs ([#15912]).
+
+```cr
+require "colorize"
+
+# Prints "world" in color in a shell, but not when piped to a file:
+puts "Hello #{"world".colorize(:red)}"
+
+# This resets to the behaviour before Crystal 1.17
+Colorize.enabled = !ENV["NO_COLOR"]?.try(&.empty?.!)
+
+# Now always prints "word" in color unless `NO_COLOR` is specified, even when piped to a file:
+puts "Hello #{"world".colorize(:red)}"
+```
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[`Colorize.on_tty_only!`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Colorize.html#on_tty_only!:Bool-class-method
+[`Colorize.enabled=`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Colorize.html#enabled%3D%28enabled%3ABool%29-class-method
+[`Colorize.default_enabled?`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Colorize.html#default_enabled%3F%28stdout%3AIO%2Cstderr%3AIO%3Dstdout%29%3ABool-class-method
+[#15881]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15881
+[#15912]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15912
+
+#### Manual memory management for `libxml2`
+
+The `libxml2` bindings are switching to use manual memory management ([#15906]).
+
+There are no breaking changes in the exposed stdlib API and we do not expect any
+issues if you're only using that.
+However, custom extensions that use `libxml2` directly in conjunction with
+stdlib API nodes may break in some specific use cases.
+When linking a node into a document, it's necessary to update the
+`Node#document` reference accordingly.
+
+The API methods that expose internal details of `libxml2` are considered unsafe
+and we're soft-deprecating them. They're not documented anymore, but still
+continue to work.
+
+We're planning to expose more features for DOM manipulation in the stdlib API,
+so nobody has to extend the `libxml2` integration themselves. As a first step,
+we're introducing `XML::Document` as a subclass of `XML::Node` for document
+nodes. This is not expected to break anything.
+Follow the progress in [#15915].
+
+We used to plug the garbage collector as memory allocator for `libxml2`.
+This worked well so far, but with the newest release libxml 2.14 it causes segfaults when using
+multi-threading and a GC cycle happens while executing a libxml function.
+In addition, the libxml2 distributed in macOS 15.4 is patched to remove the
+custom memory allocators API entirely, so support for it was broken. With this change, it is now properly supported.
+
+_Thanks, [@ysbaddaden]_
+
+[#15906]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15906
+[#15915]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15915
+
+#### Blocking behaviour of file descriptors
+
+The `blocking` parameter used in [`Socket`] and [`File`] constructors,
+[`IO.pipe`] and [`IO::Stapled.pipe`] changes from `false` to `nil` by default.
+Each event loop now decides to set the mode to blocking or not ([#15804],
+[#15930], [#15823], [#15925]).
+
+- On UNIX systems, there is no immediate effect: the existing event loops
+  (libevent, epoll and kqueue) keep using non-blocking mode.
+- On Windows, we don't set the file descriptor to non-blocking anymore. There
+  really is no need for that with overlapped IO. Instead, file IO is now fully
+  async with overlapped IO.
+
+Future event loops (such as `io_uring`) may default to blocking mode.
+
+Also, the `blocking` parameter is deprecated. It's not necessary to configure
+in the constructor ([#15924]). It's still possible to change the mode after
+creation with [`#blocking=`].
+
+_Thanks, [@ysbaddaden]_
+
+[`Socket`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Socket.html
+[`File`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/File.html
+[`IO.pipe`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/IO.html#pipe(read_blocking=nil,write_blocking=nil):Tuple(IO::FileDescriptor,IO::FileDescriptor)-class-method
+[`IO::Stapled.pipe`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/IO/Stapled.html#pipe(read_blocking:Bool=false,write_blocking:Bool=false,&)-class-method
+[`#blocking=`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Socket.html#blocking=(value)-instance-method
+[#15804]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15804
+[#15930]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15930
+[#15823]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15823
+[#15925]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15925
+[#15924]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15924
+
+#### `SystemError.from_errno`
+
+The helper method [`SystemError.from_errno`] is now a macro. This ensures it
+promptly reads [`Errno.value`] from the previous lib call, without contamination
+from evaluating other arguments. The macro keeps the same signature as the class
+method, so we expect no friction ([#15874]).
+
+_Thanks, [@straight-shoota]_
+
+[`SystemError.from_errno`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/IO/Error.html#from_errno(message,**opts)-macro
+[`Errno.value`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Errno.html#value%3Aself-class-method
+[#15874]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15874
+
+### Execution Contexts and Multi-Threading
+
+Execution contexts from [RFC 0002] are still a preview feature, but getting more
+and more into shape.
+
+In light of upcoming changes to the relation between schedulers and threads, we
+want to make it clear that execution contexts are more about the intent ("how
+fibers run") and threads are only a technical means for achieving parallelism.
+As a result, we're renaming the execution context implementations ([#15936]):
+
+- [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::SingleThreaded`] to [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Concurrent`]
+- [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::MultiThreaded`] to [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Parallel`]
+
+`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Isolated` keeps its name, it does not have a
+connection to threads.
+
+With this release, we're getting more stability. And there's progress in related
+areas, such as improving multi-threaded support for stdlib libraries like `XML`.
+Work has begun on decoupling schedulers from threads which will make
+it easy to react to blocking lib calls without blocking other fibers in the
+execution context ([#15871]).
+
+Check out [`ysbaddaden/sync`][ysbaddaden/sync] for a preview of
+synchronization primitives to build concurrent-safe and parallel-safe data
+structures.
+
+_This effort is part of the [ongoing project to improve multi-threading support]
+with the help of [84codes]._
+
+_Thanks, [@ysbaddaden]_
+
+[RFC 0002]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/rfcs/pull/2
+[ongoing project to improve multi-threading support]: /2024/02/09/84codes-manas-mt/
+[ysbaddaden/sync]: https://github.com/ysbaddaden/sync/
+
+[`Fiber::ExecutionContext::SingleThreaded`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Fiber/ExecutionContext/SingleThreaded.html
+[`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Concurrent`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Fiber/ExecutionContext/Concurrent.html
+[`Fiber::ExecutionContext::MultiThreaded`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Fiber/ExecutionContext/MultiThreaded.html
+[`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Parallel`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Fiber/ExecutionContext/Parallel.html
+[#15936]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15936
+[#15871]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15871
+
+### Windows Support
+
+Windows support is going steady with a number of improvements in this release:
+
+- Support for Windows local device paths in `Path` ([#15590])
+- Support for Windows system time zone transitions in all years ([#15891])
+- Fixed IANA time zone names for Windows system time zones ([#15914])
+- Improved stability ([#15820], [#15850]).
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[#15590]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15590
+[#15891]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15891
+[#15914]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15914
+[#15820]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15820
+[#15850]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15850
+
+### Language
+
+{% raw %}
+Macro expressions now support further expressions after an `if` expression: `{%
+if ...; end; ... %}` ([#15917]).
+{% endraw %}
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[#15917]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15917
+
+### Standard library
+
+Experimental support for [`Struct.pre_initialize`] ([#15896])
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[`Enum.from_value`] now raises `ArgumentError` instead of `Exception` ([#15624]).
+This should not break anything because it's just a more specialized subclass.
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[`Struct.pre_initialize`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Struct.html#pre_initialize(address:Pointer):Nil-class-method
+[`Enum.from_value`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Enum.html#from_value(value:Int):self-class-method
+[#15896]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15896
+[#15624]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15624
+
+#### Time zone database
+
+We improved the parser for TZif database files adding support for version 4
+([#15825]) and parsing POSIX TZ strings ([#15863]). POSIX TZ environment
+variable strings are also supported in the `TZ` environment variable ([#15792]).
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[#15825]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15825
+[#15863]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15863
+[#15792]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15792
+
+#### Scoped IPv6 addresses
+
+`Socket::IPAddress` now has support for IPv6 scoped addresses from [RFC4007]
+([#15263]). [`Socket::IPAddress#zone_id`] returns the zone number and
+[`#link_local_interface`][`Socket::IPAddress#link_local_interface`] the zone
+name.
+
+```cr
+require "socket"
+
+addr = Socket::IPAddress.new("fe80::1111%1", 0) # => Socket::IPAddress([fe80::1111%1]:0)
+addr.zone_id              # => 1
+addr.link_local_interface # => "lo"
+```
+
+_Thanks, [@foxxx0]_
+
+[RFC4007]: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc4007
+[`Socket::IPAddress#zone_id`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Socket/IPAddress.html#zone_id:Int32-instance-method
+[`Socket::IPAddress#link_local_interface`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Socket/IPAddress.html#link_local_interface:String|Nil-instance-method
+[#15263]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15263
+
+#### Ensuring string suffix and prefix
+
+New convenience methods [`String#ensure_suffix`] and [`String#ensure_prefix`]
+for adding a specific prefix or suffix but only if not already there ([#15782]):
+
+```cr
+"foo".ensure_suffix("/")  # => "foo/"
+"foo/".ensure_suffix("/") # => "foo/"
+
+"Foo".ensure_prefix("::")   # => "::Foo"
+"::Foo".ensure_prefix("::") # => "::Foo"
+```
+
+_Thanks, [@MatheusRich]_
+
+[`String#ensure_suffix`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/String.html#ensure_suffix%28suffix%3AString%7CChar%29%3Aself-instance-method
+[`String#ensure_prefix`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/String.html#ensure_prefix(prefix:String|Char):self-instance-method
+[#15782]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15782
+
+#### `Time.month_week_date`
+
+New method [`Time.month_week_date`] ([#15620])
+
+```cr
+Time.month_week_date(2025, 7, 3, 3, location: Time::Location::UTC) # => 2025-07-16 00:00:00.0 UTC
+```
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[`Time.month_week_date`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/Time.html#month_week_date(year:Int32,month:Int32,week:Int32,day_of_week:Int32|DayOfWeek,hour:Int32=0,minute:Int32=0,second:Int32=0,*,nanosecond:Int32=0,location:Location=Location.local):self-class-method
+[#15620]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15620
+
+#### Helper methods for subclasses
+
+We split [`StaticFileHandler#call`] into structured sub-components, so there are
+now a number of helper methods to override individual aspects in custom
+subclasses ([#15678]).
+
+_Thanks, [@straight-shoota]_
+
+Similarly, [`WebSocket`] now has explicit `#do_ping` and `#do_close` helper
+methods for easy overriding with custom behaviour ([#15545]).
+
+_Thanks, [@luislavena]_
+
+[`StaticFileHandler#call`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/HTTP/StaticFileHandler.html#call(context):Nil-instance-method
+[`WebSocket`]: https://crystal-lang.org/api/1.17.0/HTTP/WebSocket.html
+[#15678]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15678
+[#15545]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15545
+
+### Compiler
+
+The new CLI option `--x86-asm-syntax` configures emitting assembly code in Intel
+style ([#15612]).
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil]_
+
+Stringification of several AST nodes has been improved: single line blocks
+([#15568]), multiline named tuple literals ([#15566]), multiline calls
+([#15691]), significant whitespace before a block body ([#15692]), `MacroIf`
+`unless` ([#15919]), `elsif` when stringifying `If` ([#15918]), newline in
+trailing expressions ([#15614]), multiline (boolean) expressions ([#15709]),
+`Not` as call receiver ([#15801]).
+
+_Thanks, [@Blacksmoke16], [@HertzDevil]_
+
+[#15612]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15612
+[#15568]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15568
+[#15566]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15566
+[#15691]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15691
+[#15692]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15692
+[#15919]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15919
+[#15918]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15918
+[#15614]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15614
+[#15709]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15709
+[#15801]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15801
+
+### Compiler tools
+
+We have a new compiler tool, `macro_code_coverage`, which generate a code
+coverage report for macros ([#15738]).
+
+_Thanks, [@Blacksmoke16]_
+
+[#15738]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15738
+
+### Infrastructure
+
+The Crystal repo has adopted [ameba] for static code analysis and linting
+([#15875]), as well as and [typos] for spell checking ([#15873]).
+With the help of these tools we have been able to improve code quality a lot,
+and continue doing so with continuous testing in CI.
+
+_Thanks, [@straight-shoota]_
+
+[ameba]: https://crystal-ameba.github.io/
+[typos]: https://github.com/crate-ci/typos
+
+[#15875]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15875
+[#15873]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15873
+
+### Dependencies
+
+- Support for LLVM 21 ([#15771])
+- Allow `LLVM_VERSION` override inside `Makefile` ([#15765])
+- Support for LibXML2 2.14 ([#15899], [#15906])
+
+_Thanks, [@HertzDevil], [@ysbaddaden]_
+
+[#15771]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15771
+[#15765]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15765
+[#15899]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues/15899
+
+### Deprecations
+
+- [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::SingleThreaded`] and
+  [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::MultiThreaded`] are deprecated and replaced by
+  [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Concurrent`] and
+  [`Fiber::ExecutionContext::Parallel`], respectively. The old names still work
+  as aliases.
+  Please note that the compiler currently does not emit deprecation warnings for
+  aliases. This will be available in 1.18.0.
+
+---
+
+> **THANKS:** We have been able to do all of this thanks to the continued
+> support of [84codes](https://www.84codes.com/) and every other
+> [sponsor](/sponsors). To maintain and increase the development pace, donations
+> and sponsorships are essential.
+> [OpenCollective](https://opencollective.com/crystal-lang) is available for
+> that.
+>
+> Reach out to [crystal@manas.tech](mailto:crystal@manas.tech) if you’d like to
+> become a direct sponsor or find other ways to support Crystal. We thank you in
+> advance!
+
+[issue tracker]: https://github.com/crystal-lang/crystal/issues
+[forum]: https://forum.crystal-lang.org/
+[84codes]: https://www.84codes.com/
+[@Blacksmoke16]: https://github.com/Blacksmoke16
+[@HertzDevil]: https://github.com/HertzDevil
+[@MatheusRich]: https://github.com/MatheusRich
+[@foxxx0]: https://github.com/foxxx0
+[@luislavena]: https://github.com/luislavena
+[@straight-shoota]: https://github.com/straight-shoota
+[@ysbaddaden]: https://github.com/ysbaddaden