cucumber · luke-hill · Mar 17, 2026 · Mar 17, 2026 · Mar 17, 2026 · Mar 17, 2026
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 .bundle
-nbproject
 coverage
 pkg
 doc
@@ -8,20 +7,12 @@ tmp
 *.log
 *.pid
 .eprj
-.tmtags
-*~
 .DS_Store
-*.swp
-*.swo
 target
-*.tmproj
-.#*
 .idea
 .vscode
-*.pyc
 *.rbc
 rerun.txt
-._*
 .rvmrc
 .sass-cache
 doc/
@@ -33,5 +24,4 @@ Gemfile.local
 Gemfile.local.lock
 .envrc
 Gemfile.lock
-bin/json-formatter
-acceptance/*
+acceptance/*
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
@@ -45,12 +45,12 @@ Later in this document, bundler is considered being used so all commands are usi
 
 ### Supported platforms
 
+- Ruby 4.0
 - Ruby 3.4
 - Ruby 3.3
 - Ruby 3.2
-- Ruby 3.1
 - TruffleRuby 24.0.0+
-- JRuby 9.4+ (with [some limitations](https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber-ruby/blob/main/docs/jruby-limitations.md))
+- JRuby 10.0+ (with [some limitations](https://github.com/cucumber/cucumber-ruby/blob/main/docs/jruby-limitations.md))
 
 ### Ruby on Rails
 

diff --git a/cucumber.gemspec b/cucumber.gemspec
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.add_dependency 'cucumber-ci-environment', '> 9', '< 12'
   s.add_dependency 'cucumber-core', '>= 16.2.0', '< 17'
   s.add_dependency 'cucumber-cucumber-expressions', '> 17', '< 20'
-  s.add_dependency 'cucumber-html-formatter', '> 21', '< 23'
+  s.add_dependency 'cucumber-html-formatter', '> 21', '< 24'
   s.add_dependency 'diff-lcs', '~> 1.5'
   s.add_dependency 'logger', '~> 1.6'
   s.add_dependency 'mini_mime', '~> 1.1'

diff --git a/features/docs/cli/ordering.feature b/features/docs/cli/ordering.feature
@@ -128,12 +128,6 @@ Feature: Ordering
       Randomized with seed 41544
       """
 
-  @force_legacy_loader
-  Scenario: Rerun scenarios randomized
-    When I run `cucumber --order random --format summary`
-    And I rerun the previous command with the same seed
-    Then the output of both commands should be the same
-
   @global_state
   Scenario: Run scenarios randomized with some skipped
     When I run `cucumber --tags "not @skipme" --order random:41544 -q`

diff --git a/features/lib/support/env.rb b/features/lib/support/env.rb
@@ -35,13 +35,6 @@
   ENV['CUCUMBER_PUBLISH_TOKEN'] = original_publish_token
 end
 
-Around('@force_legacy_loader') do |_, block|
-  original_loader = Cucumber.use_legacy_autoloader
-  Cucumber.use_legacy_autoloader = true
-  block.call
-  Cucumber.use_legacy_autoloader = original_loader
-end
-
 Before('@global_state') do
   # Ok, this one is tricky but kinda make sense.
   # So, we need to share state between some sub-scenarios (the ones executed by

diff --git a/lib/cucumber.rb b/lib/cucumber.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 module Cucumber
   class << self
     attr_accessor :wants_to_quit
-    attr_reader :use_legacy_autoloader
 
     def deprecate(message, method, remove_after_version)
       Kernel.warn(
@@ -24,22 +23,11 @@ def deprecate(message, method, remove_after_version)
     def logger
       return @log if @log
 
-      @log = Logger.new($stdout)
-      @log.level = Logger::INFO
-      @log
+      @log = Logger.new($stdout).tap { it.level = Logger::INFO }
     end
 
     def logger=(logger)
       @log = logger
     end
-
-    def use_legacy_autoloader=(value)
-      Cucumber.deprecate(
-        'This will be phased out of cucumber and should not be used. It is only there to support legacy systems',
-        '.use_legacy_autoloader',
-        '11.0.0'
-      )
-      @use_legacy_autoloader = value
-    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/lib/cucumber/formatter/usage.rb b/lib/cucumber/formatter/usage.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 require 'cucumber/formatter/progress'
-require 'cucumber/step_definition_light'
 require 'cucumber/formatter/console'
 
 module Cucumber
   module Formatter
     class Usage < Progress
       include Console
+
       class StepDefKey
         attr_accessor :mean_duration, :status
         attr_reader :regexp_source, :location

diff --git a/lib/cucumber/glue/registry_and_more.rb b/lib/cucumber/glue/registry_and_more.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 require 'cucumber/gherkin/i18n'
 require 'multi_test'
 require 'cucumber/step_match'
-require 'cucumber/step_definition_light'
 require 'cucumber/events/step_definition_registered'
 
 module Cucumber
@@ -128,12 +127,7 @@ def load_code_file(code_file)
         return unless File.extname(code_file) == '.rb'
 
         # This will cause self.add_step_definition, self.add_hook, and self.define_parameter_type to be called from Glue::Dsl
-
-        if Cucumber.use_legacy_autoloader
-          load File.expand_path(code_file)
-        else
-          require File.expand_path(code_file)
-        end
+        require File.expand_path(code_file)
       end
 
       def begin_scenario(test_case)

diff --git a/lib/cucumber/multiline_argument/data_table.rb b/lib/cucumber/multiline_argument/data_table.rb
@@ -364,17 +364,6 @@ def verify_table_width(width)
         raise %(The table must have exactly #{width} columns) unless raw[0].size == width
       end
 
-      # TODO: remove the below function if it's not actually being used.
-      # Nothing else in this repo calls it.
-      def text?(text)
-        Cucumber.deprecate(
-          'This method is no longer supported for checking text',
-          '#text?',
-          '11.0.0'
-        )
-        raw.flatten.compact.detect { |cell_value| cell_value.index(text) }
-      end
-
       def cells_rows
         @rows ||= cell_matrix.map do |cell_row|
           Cells.new(self, cell_row)

diff --git a/lib/cucumber/step_definition_light.rb b/lib/cucumber/step_definition_light.rb
diff --git a/spec/cucumber/glue/registry_and_more_spec.rb b/spec/cucumber/glue/registry_and_more_spec.rb
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ def self.value; 2; end
             end
           STRING
         end
-
         let(:value3) do
           <<~STRING
             class Foo
@@ -73,51 +72,6 @@ def a_file_called(name)
             expect(Foo.value).not_to eq(3)
           end
         end
-
-        context 'when using `use_legacy_autoloader`' do
-          before(:each) { allow(Cucumber).to receive(:use_legacy_autoloader).and_return(true) }
-
-          it 're-loads the file when called multiple times' do
-            a_file_called('tmp2.rb') { value1 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp2.rb')
-            a_file_called('tmp2.rb') { value2 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp2.rb')
-
-            expect(Foo.value).to eq(2)
-          end
-
-          it 'only loads ruby files' do
-            a_file_called('tmp2.rb') { value1 }
-            a_file_called('docs2.md') { value3 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp2.rb')
-            registry.load_code_file('docs2.md')
-
-            expect(Foo.value).not_to eq(3)
-          end
-        end
-
-        context 'when explicitly NOT using `use_legacy_autoloader`' do
-          before(:each) { allow(Cucumber).to receive(:use_legacy_autoloader).and_return(false) }
-          after(:each) { FileUtils.rm_rf('tmp3.rb') }
-
-          it 'does not re-load the file when called multiple times' do
-            a_file_called('tmp3.rb') { value1 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp3.rb')
-            a_file_called('tmp3.rb') { value2 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp3.rb')
-
-            expect(Foo.value).to eq(1)
-          end
-
-          it 'only loads ruby files' do
-            a_file_called('tmp3.rb') { value1 }
-            a_file_called('docs3.md') { value3 }
-            registry.load_code_file('tmp3.rb')
-            registry.load_code_file('docs3.md')
-
-            expect(Foo.value).not_to eq(3)
-          end
-        end
       end
 
       describe 'Handling the World' do

diff --git a/upgrading_notes/11.0.0.md b/upgrading_notes/11.0.0.md
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Upgrading to 11.0.0
+
+## CCK conformance
+
+CCK conformance has been bumped to v22. This has seen a lot of rewrites specifically around formatters
+- The `message` default formatters (Which all other formatters are being built on, has been refactored heavily to output more information
+- The `rerun` formatter is now completely rebuilt using messages - the behaviour should be identical
+
+## Removed previously deprecated items that were deprecated in v10
+
+### #text?
+
+The `#text?` method for checking differences in multi-line heredocs or texts has been removed
+
+Should you wish to check multi-line text fragments for differences and issues, there are a host of better-suited
+libraries that handle this better, and this should be handled outside the remit of cucumber
+
+### Cucumber.use_legacy_autoloader configuration setting
+
+This setting has now been removed. All files will only ever autoload once
+
+### StepDefinitionLight
+
+This class and its associated actions has been removed. It served little to no purpose other than in
+one of the legacy formatters that we aim to remove and port to messages and some associated "shim" languages
+which aren't in the purview of the team anymore
+
+## Newly deprecated items
+
+### Strict configuration
+
+For a while cucumber has been heavily divergent in terms of how it handles "strict" mode - In some places it was a configuration setting,
+in others it was a command line flag, and in others it was just a concept that was handled differently across different formatters
+
+Going forward in v11, we will explicitly advise against using strict mode and instead encourage users to use the intended
+default behaviours for scenarios that involve undefined steps, pending steps, or failed steps. This is in line with the intended design of cucumber and will help to
+encourage better practices and more consistent behaviour across different formatters and runners