Upgrade Spring Boot, Swagger Annotations, and Springdoc OpenAPI + Improve README

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Summary

This PR upgrades several dependencies to their latest stable versions and includes improvements to the project documentation.

Dependency Upgrades

• Spring Boot: 4.00-RC2 → 4.00
  Upgraded to the official 4.0.0 release to improve stability, finalize RC fixes, and ensure full compatibility with modern Spring features.

• Swagger Annotations: 2.2.40 → 2.2.41
  Includes bug fixes and stability improvements for annotation processing, covering arrays, recursive models, and validation annotations.

• springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui: 3.0.0-RC1 → 3.0.0
  Updated to the stable release to resolve RC1 issues, enhance OpenAPI integration, improve the UI, and ensure compatibility with Spring Boot 4 and Spring Framework 7.

Documentation

• The README has been updated and improved for clarity and accuracy, reflecting the new dependency versions and enhancing developer guidance.

Reasoning

These updates help keep the application up-to-date with stable and supported versions of the frameworks, improving maintainability, compatibility, and overall developer experience.

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Changelog Summary (External)

swagger-core / swagger-annotations 2.2.40 → 2.2.41

Commits / Fixes in 2.2.41

• Fix: annotated type caching improvements. (#5005)
• Fix: recursive models processed without StackOverflow during model generation. (#4852 / #5004)
• Refactor: JSON/YAML assertion handling (JsonAssert) — affects internal serialization/testing. (#5002)
• Fix: ArraySchema logic improved for “required” fields in arrays. (#4998)
• Fix: Validation annotations (@NotBlank, @NotEmpty) now behave consistently with @NotNull during schema generation. (#4968)

What was in 2.2.40

• Removed “superfluous ref” in composed schemas — fixes issue #4959.
• Dependency bump: ClassGraph 4.8.184 for classpath scanning.
• Serialization tests fixed to be order-insensitive for JSON keys. (#4990)

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springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui 3.0.0-RC1 → 3.0.0

Added / Changed in 3.0.0

• Added: Support for Spring Framework 7 — initial API versioning support. (#2975)
• Added: Support for static resources in WebFlux. (#3123)
• Upgraded: Spring Boot dependency to 4.0.0.
• Upgraded: Scalar dependency to version 0.4.3.
• Fix: Warning messages removed when documentation is explicitly enabled. (#3131)
• Fix: NPE in KotlinDeprecatedPropertyCustomizer when resolvedSchema is null. (#3121)

Already in 3.0.0-RC1

• Support for Spring Boot 4.0.0-RC2. (#3095)

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Spring Boot 4.0.0-RC2 → 4.0.0 Highlights

• Modularized spring-boot-micrometer-tracing into separate modules (…-brave, …-opentelemetry) for tracing support. Configuration properties updated (management.tracing.export… etc.).
• Restored Jersey (JAX-RS) support for users who need it.
• Updated dependencies: Spring Framework 7, Spring Data, Spring GraphQL, HATEOAS, Security, Integration.
• Internal tweaks: class renames (e.g., OnlyOnceLoggingDenyMeterFilter → MaximumAllowableTagsMeterFilter) and extraction of OpenTelemetryLoggingAutoConfiguration from OpenTelemetrySdkAutoConfiguration.
• 4.0.0 GA mostly finalized RC2 fixes, QA, and documentation — no major breaking changes noted.

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Notes

• swagger-core / swagger-annotations: 2.2.41 is primarily a stability/bug-fix release — improves schema generation (recursive models, arrays, validation annotations) with no breaking API changes. Safe to upgrade in most projects.
• springdoc-openapi-starter-webmvc-ui: 3.0.0 is stable, fixes RC1 bugs, improves compatibility with modern Spring / Spring Boot versions, adds WebFlux and SF7 support. Recommended over RC1 for production.
• Spring Boot 4.0.0: If upgrading from RC2, check tracing/logging property names and update configuration if your project uses tracing/metrics.

[lilstiffy]

Great PR summaries! 🥇

[lilstiffy]

Good job!
And the updated README is cleaaaan 🧼 🦤

[pwgit-create]

Great PR summaries! 🥇

Thank you @lilstiffy 😃