diff --git a/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/userguide/appendices/Configurations.adoc b/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/userguide/appendices/Configurations.adoc
index 8adf686731..1923e45968 100644
--- a/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/userguide/appendices/Configurations.adoc
+++ b/documentation/src/main/asciidoc/userguide/appendices/Configurations.adoc
@@ -387,8 +387,8 @@ Enable lazy loading feature in runtime bytecode enhancement. This way, even basi
 `*hibernate.enhancer.enableAssociationManagement*` (e.g. `true` or `false` (default value))::
 Enable association management feature in runtime bytecode enhancement which automatically synchronizes a bidirectional association when only one side is changed.
 
-`*hibernate.bytecode.provider*` (e.g. `javassist` (default value))::
-The https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/orm/{majorMinorVersion}/javadocs/org/hibernate/bytecode/spi/BytecodeProvider.html[`BytecodeProvider`] built-in implementation flavor. Currently, only `javassist` is supported.
+`*hibernate.bytecode.provider*` (e.g. `bytebuddy` (default value))::
+The https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/orm/{majorMinorVersion}/javadocs/org/hibernate/bytecode/spi/BytecodeProvider.html[`BytecodeProvider`] built-in implementation flavor. Currently, only `bytebuddy` and `javassist` are valid values.
 
 `*hibernate.bytecode.use_reflection_optimizer*` (e.g. `true` or `false` (default value))::
 Should we use reflection optimization? The reflection optimizer implements the https://docs.jboss.org/hibernate/orm/{majorMinorVersion}/javadocs/org/hibernate/bytecode/spi/ReflectionOptimizer.html[`ReflectionOptimizer`] interface and improves entity instantiation and property getter/setter calls.
diff --git a/hibernate-core/hibernate-core.gradle b/hibernate-core/hibernate-core.gradle
index 4a16b583d4..fa1aead733 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/hibernate-core.gradle
+++ b/hibernate-core/hibernate-core.gradle
@@ -37,9 +37,10 @@ dependencies {
     // ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
     compile( libraries.jpa )
-    compile( libraries.javassist )
-    // provided until 6.0 when we make it the default and drop Javassist support
-    provided( libraries.byteBuddy )
+    // Not wanting a transitive dependency on javassist anymore as it's not the default anymore:
+    provided( libraries.javassist )
+    // Could be made optional?
+    compile( libraries.byteBuddy )
     compile( libraries.antlr )
     compile( libraries.jta )
     compile( libraries.jandex )
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
index f851ec03a0..68de591a75 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/AvailableSettings.java
@@ -1123,6 +1123,9 @@ public interface AvailableSettings extends org.hibernate.jpa.AvailableSettings {
 	String CHECK_NULLABILITY = "hibernate.check_nullability";
 
 
+	/**
+	 * Pick which bytecode enhancing library to use. Currently supports javassist and bytebuddy, bytebuddy being the default since version 5.3.
+	 */
 	String BYTECODE_PROVIDER = "hibernate.bytecode.provider";
 
 	String JPAQL_STRICT_COMPLIANCE= "hibernate.query.jpaql_strict_compliance";
diff --git a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Environment.java b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Environment.java
index b28427deef..3a0574870b 100644
--- a/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Environment.java
+++ b/hibernate-core/src/main/java/org/hibernate/cfg/Environment.java
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@ public final class Environment implements AvailableSettings {
 
 	public static final String BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_JAVASSIST = "javassist";
 	public static final String BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_BYTEBUDDY = "bytebuddy";
-	public static final String BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_DEFAULT = BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_JAVASSIST;
+	public static final String BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_DEFAULT = BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_BYTEBUDDY;
 
 	public static BytecodeProvider buildBytecodeProvider(Properties properties) {
 		String provider = ConfigurationHelper.getString( BYTECODE_PROVIDER, properties, BYTECODE_PROVIDER_NAME_DEFAULT );
diff --git a/hibernate-entitymanager/hibernate-entitymanager.gradle b/hibernate-entitymanager/hibernate-entitymanager.gradle
index 689e6c320f..02f16c8234 100644
--- a/hibernate-entitymanager/hibernate-entitymanager.gradle
+++ b/hibernate-entitymanager/hibernate-entitymanager.gradle
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ dependencies {
 	compile( libraries.dom4j )
 	compile( libraries.commons_annotations )
 	compile( libraries.jpa )
-	compile( libraries.javassist )
 	compile( libraries.byteBuddy )
 	compile( libraries.jta )
 }
diff --git a/hibernate-envers/hibernate-envers.gradle b/hibernate-envers/hibernate-envers.gradle
index e29b0aa90b..df5908daa0 100644
--- a/hibernate-envers/hibernate-envers.gradle
+++ b/hibernate-envers/hibernate-envers.gradle
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ description = 'Hibernate\'s entity version (audit/history) support'
 
 dependencies {
     compile( project( ':hibernate-core' ) )
+    //Ideally javassist should be only an optional dependency but it's currently required by Envers: see HHH-12327
+    compile( libraries.javassist )
 
     provided( [group: 'org.hibernate', name: 'hibernate-tools', version: '3.2.0.ga'] )
     provided( libraries.ant )
@@ -19,7 +21,6 @@ dependencies {
 
     testCompile( project( ':hibernate-testing' ) )
     testCompile( project( path: ':hibernate-core', configuration: 'tests' ) )
-    testRuntime( libraries.javassist )
     testRuntime( libraries.byteBuddy )
 }
 
diff --git a/hibernate-spatial/hibernate-spatial.gradle b/hibernate-spatial/hibernate-spatial.gradle
index 53420a444a..26aac5469c 100644
--- a/hibernate-spatial/hibernate-spatial.gradle
+++ b/hibernate-spatial/hibernate-spatial.gradle
@@ -33,7 +33,6 @@ dependencies {
     testRuntime( libraries.expression_language )
 
     testRuntime('jaxen:jaxen:1.1')
-    testRuntime(libraries.javassist)
     testRuntime(libraries.byteBuddy)
 }
 
diff --git a/hibernate-testing/hibernate-testing.gradle b/hibernate-testing/hibernate-testing.gradle
index ed371b88fd..4d764ac323 100644
--- a/hibernate-testing/hibernate-testing.gradle
+++ b/hibernate-testing/hibernate-testing.gradle
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ dependencies {
     compile( libraries.byteman )
     compile( libraries.byteman_install )
     compile( libraries.byteman_bmunit )
+    compile( libraries.javassist )
     compile( libraries.xapool )
     compile( libraries.log4j )
     compile ( libraries.jboss_jta ) {