Upgrade to Liquibase Secure 4.32

Last updated: September 2, 2025

In Liquibase 4.32 we provide two distinct distributions of Liquibase Community and Liquibase Secure.This differentiation provides a holistic setup experience that supports purposeful releases and reduces the risk of regressions. This experience is specifically tailored to the workflows of our Secure users. It is important to know that the Secure distribution requires a valid license key to utilize all Community and Secure features.

Before you begin

Confirm that Java is installed. If you use the Liquibase Installer, Java is included automatically.

Procedure

1

Navigate to your preferred Liquibase installer.

You can use our Secure-only installer.

2

Extract the installer to a location on your machine.

Example:

  • On Linux, extract the zip file into /opt/liquibase/liquibase-<version> directory.

  • On Windows, extract the zip file into the C:\liquibase\liquibase-<version> directory.

  • On MacOS, extract the zip file into ~/liquibase/liquibase-<version> directory.

3

Run the CLI as an Administrator.

Note: The Symbolic link will not work unless you are in Administrator mode.

4

Navigate to the location of the new Liquibase download.

5

Create a symbolic link to Liquibase.

Symbolic links allow DevOps engineers to control which version of Liquibase executes upon installation. This method allows the pipeline maintainer to link a specific version of Liquibase that has been tested and vetted by the DevOps engineer prior to using it widely on the dev environment.

Linux: On one end of this link, we have the liquibase-<version> component where the DevOps engineer will place the latest version of Liquibase. On the other end, we have the DBAs with the ./liquibase component that looks at the DevOps' end and finds the latest version. So, once the DevOps Engineer is ready for the DBAs to release this to the development environment, they can just create this symbolic link, and the DBAs automatically get the latest version. In this example, we will use /opt/liquibase/liquibase to link to the /opt/liquibase/liquibase-<version> ./liquibase by entering the below command in the CLI: sudo ln -sf ./liquibase-version> ./liquibase

Windows: On one end of this link, we have the liquibase-<version> component where the DevOps engineer will place the latest version of Liquibase. On the other end, we have the DBAs with the C:\liquibase\liquibase component that looks at the DevOps' end and finds the latest version. So, once the DevOps Engineer is ready for the DBAs to release this to the development environment, they can just create this symbolic link, and the DBAs automatically get the latest version. In this example, we will use C:\liquibase\liquibase to link to the C:\opt\liquibase\liquibase-<version> directory by entering the below command in the CLI: mklink/d C:\liquibase\liquibase C:\liquibase\liquibase-<version>

6

Update the environment variable so it points to the Liquibase symbolic link

Linux: If Liquibase is installed in /opt/liquibase/liquibase-4.29.2 with a symbolic link created at /opt/liquibase/liquibase, run this in the CLI:

export PATH=/opt/liquibase/liquibase:$PATH

Windows: If Liquibase is installed in C:\liquibase\liquibase-4.29.2 with a symbolic link created at C:\liquibase\liquibase, run this in the CLI:

SET PATH=C:\liquibase\liquibase;%PATH%

7

Open another instance of the CLI to load the new changes.

8

Ensure that the liquibase.properties file is available in your liquibase-4.32 directory.

As an existing user, copy your existing properties file and paste it into your 4.32 directory folder.

In this example, you can see the liquibase.properties in the main liquibase-4.32 directory.

Upgrade to Liquibase Pro 4.32 8
9

Ensure that your changelog is available in your liquibase-4.32 directory.

As an existing user, copy your existing changelog file and paste it into your 4.32 directory folder.

In this example, you can see the example-changelog.sql file in the main liquibase-4.32 directory.

Upgrade to Liquibase Pro 4.32 9
10

Apply your Liquibase Pro license key.

It is best to use a Secrets Management tool like Hashicorp Vault or AWS Secrets Manager to keep Liquibase license keys secure.

There are several ways to apply the Liquibase Secure license key. Below we provide an example using the liquibase.properties file. You can also choose to add the license key through the CLI, environment variables, JAVA_OPTS, Docker, or Azure DevOps.

liquibase.licenseKey: aei76ou32thp785463214

Note: The Liquibase installation comes with JDBC drivers for popular database platforms such as Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, Snowflake, and H2.

If you are working with a different Liquibase-supported database, visit the Liquibase Database Tutorials documentation to download the JDBC driver specific to your database.

11

In a new CLI instance, navigate to the location where you downloaded the Liquibase Secure.

12

Validate that your Liquibase Pro license key works as expected.

Run liquibase update. A successful update message will appear if the Secure license key has been applied. This will include the expiration date for your license.

Sucessful Update Message
For more information, please use the --log-level flag

C:\Users\AmberWilliams\Projects\liquibase-4.32>liquibase update
####################################################
##   _     _             _ _                      ##
##  | |   (_)           (_) |                     ##
##  | |    _  __ _ _   _ _| |__   __ _ ___  ___   ##
##  | |   | |/ _` | | | | | '_ \ / _` / __|/ _ \  ##
##  | |___| | (_| | |_| | | |_) | (_| \__ \  __/  ##
##  \_____/_|\__, |\__,_|_|_.__/ \__,_|___/\___|  ##
##              | |                               ##
##              |_|                               ##
##                                                ##
##  Get documentation at docs.liquibase.com       ##
##  Get certified courses at learn.liquibase.com  ##
##                                                ##
####################################################
Starting Liquibase at 16:10:55 using Java 21.0.1 (version merge-test #12 built at 2025-04-28 21:24+0000)
Liquibase Version: 4.32
Liquibase Secure 4.32 by Liquibase licensed to Liquibase until Mon Dec 11 17:00:00 MST 2034
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::1::your.name
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::2::your.name
Running Changeset: example-changelog.sql::3::other.dev

UPDATE SUMMARY
Run:                          3
Previously run:               0
Filtered out:                 0
Failed deployment:            0
-------------------------------
Total change sets:            3

Liquibase: Update has been successful. Rows affected: 3
Secure Update Report created!
* File '/C:/Users/AmberWilliams/Projects/liquibase-4.32/Update-report-01-May-2025-161057.html' was created.
** To suppress Update reports add command arg 'liquibase update --report-enabled=false'
** To suppress all Secure Reports set liquibase.reports.enabled=false, or LIQUIBASE_REPORTS_ENABLED=false
Liquibase command 'update' was executed successfully.

# C:\Users\AmberWilliams\Projects\liquibase-4.32>