1. Revolutionary Improvement in Architecture Efficiency

1.1 Significant Increase in Class Loading Efficiency

Spring Boot 2.7 introduces <span>AutoConfiguration.imports</span> which adopts manifest-based configuration loading, compared to the traditional SPI mechanism:

Traditional SPI scan path: META-INF/services/**
Spring Boot new solution: META-INF/spring/org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.AutoConfiguration.imports

By using precise configuration manifest indexing, it reduces classpath scanning operations by 90%. Actual data shows that in large projects with over 50 starters, the time spent in the class loading phase during application startup is reduced to one-third of the original.

1.2 Shift in Resource Configuration Paradigm

// Traditional SPI requires writing service discovery logic
ServiceLoader<PaymentService> services = ServiceLoader.load(PaymentService.class);

// AutoConfiguration only needs to declare the configuration class
@Configuration
@ConditionalOnClass(PaymentGateway.class)
public class PaymentAutoConfiguration {
    @Bean
    public PaymentService wechatPay() {
        return new WechatPaymentImpl();
    }
}

The amount of configuration declaration code is reduced by 75%, significantly lowering maintenance costs.

2. Modular Engineering Practices

2.1 JPMS Compatible Solution

In the Java Platform Module System (JPMS), traditional SPI faces module visibility constraints:

module payment.module {
    provides com.payment.spi.PaymentService 
        with com.payment.impl.AlipayService; // Forces export of implementation class
}

The Spring Boot solution achieves module decoupling through <span>AutoConfiguration.imports</span>:

# Module internal private configuration
META-INF/spring/org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.AutoConfiguration.imports
com.payment.internal.PaymentConfig

Modules do not need to expose internal implementation classes, perfectly aligning with JPMS’s strong encapsulation principles.

2.2 Enhanced Security Practices

Traditional classpath scanning may expose sensitive classes:

# Malicious JAR injection attack path
META-INF/services/com.company.security.AuthService
com.attacker.FakeAuthService

The AutoConfiguration mechanism employs triple protection:

1. Configuration whitelist mechanism
2. Digital signature verification (Spring Boot 3.0+)
3. Conditional assembly checks effectively block the injection of unverified external components.

3. Engineering Performance Comparison Matrix

Evaluation Dimension	SPI Mechanism	AutoConfiguration
Startup Time	Class loading phase O(n) complexity	O(1) direct index loading
Configuration Maintenance Cost	Each service interface has independent maintenance files	Unified configuration manifest, IDE smart prompts
Modular Compatibility	Requires opens directive to expose implementation packages	Configuration isolation through imports
Security Protection Level	Open classpath is vulnerable to attacks	Signature verification + conditional assembly dual protection
Extension Complexity	Requires manual handling of duplicate implementations	@ConditionalOnMissingBean automatically avoids
Multi-Environment Support	No native support	Profile grouping + conditional property binding

4. Advanced Techniques for Intelligent Assembly

4.1 Dynamic Assembly Strategy

@AutoConfiguration(after = DataSourceConfig.class)
@ConditionalOnCloudPlatform(CloudPlatform.KUBERNETES)
@ConditionalOnExpression("#{environment.getProperty('app.mode') == 'cluster'}")
public class ClusterCacheConfig {
    // Effective only in K8s environment and cluster mode
}

4.2 Configuration Hot Update Linkage

# application.properties
spring.autoconfigure.exclude[0]=com.example.LegacyConfig
spring.autoconfigure.exclude[1]=com.example.DeprecatedConfig

Supports runtime dynamic adjustment of configuration loading strategies without recompilation.

5. Decision Tree Model

When facing technology selection, choose a solution based on the following decision logic:

Through systematic comparison, it is evident that Spring Boot AutoConfiguration demonstrates advantages in engineering efficiency, security protection, and architectural adaptability. It is recommended that application development prioritize this solution to build a sustainable evolutionary architecture system.