diff --git a/.github/workflows/check_transport.yml b/.github/workflows/check_transport.yml
index 246ba45f06..b341275a96 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check_transport.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check_transport.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,10 @@ jobs:
           echo -e "\n - \u001b[1mSpotless (license headers)\u001b[0m failures on touched java files \033[38;5;255;48;5;0m\u001b[1mcan be automatically fixed by running\u001b[0m:"
           echo -e "   \033[38;5;0;48;5;255m ./gradlew spotlessApply \033[0m"
           echo -e "\n - \u001b[1mAPI Compatibility\u001b[0m failures should be considered carefully and \033[38;5;255;48;5;0m\u001b[1mdiscussed with maintainers in the PR\u001b[0m"
-          echo "   If there are failures, the detail should be available in the logs of the api compatibility step above"
+          echo "   If there are failures, the detail should be available in the step's log:"
+          echo -e "   Look for the \033[38;5;0;48;5;255m API compatibility failures \033[0m block(s)."
+          echo "   Alternatively, locally run the following command to get access to the full report:"
+          echo -e "   \033[38;5;0;48;5;255m ./gradlew japicmp \033[0m"
           echo ""
           exit -1
 
diff --git a/reactor-netty-core/build.gradle b/reactor-netty-core/build.gradle
index 57cb59e2b7..a4e11e150a 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-core/build.gradle
+++ b/reactor-netty-core/build.gradle
@@ -193,16 +193,45 @@ task downloadBaseline(type: Download) {
 	dest "${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-core-${compatibleVersion}-original.jar"
 }
 
+def japicmpReport = tasks.register('japicmpReport') {
+	onlyIf {
+		japicmp.state.failure != null
+	}
+	doLast {
+		def reportFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
+		if (reportFile.exists()) {
+			println "\n **********************************"
+			println " * /!\\ API compatibility failures *"
+			println " **********************************"
+			println "Japicmp report was filtered and interpreted to find the following incompatibilities:"
+			reportFile.eachLine {
+				if (it.contains("*") && (!it.contains("***") || it.contains("****")))
+					println "source incompatible change: $it"
+				else if (it.contains("!"))
+					println "binary incompatible change: $it"
+			}
+		}
+		else println "No incompatible change to report"
+	}
+}
+
 task japicmp(type: JapicmpTask) {
+	finalizedBy(japicmpReport)
+	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
 	oldClasspath.from(files("${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-core-${compatibleVersion}-original.jar"))
 	newClasspath.from(files(jar.archiveFile))
-	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true
+	// these onlyXxx parameters result in a report that is slightly too noisy, but better than
+	// onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true which masks source-incompatible-only changes
+	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = false
+	onlyModified = true
 	failOnModification = true
 	failOnSourceIncompatibility = true
 	txtOutputFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
 	ignoreMissingClasses = true
 	includeSynthetic = true
-	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
+	compatibilityChangeExcludes = [ "METHOD_NEW_DEFAULT" ]
 }
 
 tasks.japicmp.dependsOn(downloadBaseline)
diff --git a/reactor-netty-http-brave/build.gradle b/reactor-netty-http-brave/build.gradle
index f9b50ee647..ab3fcb735d 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-http-brave/build.gradle
+++ b/reactor-netty-http-brave/build.gradle
@@ -76,16 +76,45 @@ task downloadBaseline(type: Download) {
 	dest "${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-http-brave-${compatibleVersion}.jar"
 }
 
+def japicmpReport = tasks.register('japicmpReport') {
+	onlyIf {
+		japicmp.state.failure != null
+	}
+	doLast {
+		def reportFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
+		if (reportFile.exists()) {
+			println "\n **********************************"
+			println " * /!\\ API compatibility failures *"
+			println " **********************************"
+			println "Japicmp report was filtered and interpreted to find the following incompatibilities:"
+			reportFile.eachLine {
+				if (it.contains("*") && (!it.contains("***") || it.contains("****")))
+					println "source incompatible change: $it"
+				else if (it.contains("!"))
+					println "binary incompatible change: $it"
+			}
+		}
+		else println "No incompatible change to report"
+	}
+}
+
 task japicmp(type: JapicmpTask) {
+	finalizedBy(japicmpReport)
+	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
 	oldClasspath.from(files("${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-http-brave-${compatibleVersion}.jar"))
-	newClasspath.from(files(jar.archiveFile, project(':reactor-netty-core').jar))
-	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true
+	newClasspath.from(files(jar.archiveFile))
+	// these onlyXxx parameters result in a report that is slightly too noisy, but better than
+	// onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true which masks source-incompatible-only changes
+	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = false
+	onlyModified = true
 	failOnModification = true
 	failOnSourceIncompatibility = true
 	txtOutputFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
 	ignoreMissingClasses = true
 	includeSynthetic = true
-	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
+	compatibilityChangeExcludes = [ "METHOD_NEW_DEFAULT" ]
 }
 
 tasks.japicmp.dependsOn(downloadBaseline)
diff --git a/reactor-netty-http/build.gradle b/reactor-netty-http/build.gradle
index 9824d2b9ec..cbebf87dcd 100644
--- a/reactor-netty-http/build.gradle
+++ b/reactor-netty-http/build.gradle
@@ -184,16 +184,45 @@ task downloadBaseline(type: Download) {
 	dest "${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-http-${compatibleVersion}.jar"
 }
 
+def japicmpReport = tasks.register('japicmpReport') {
+	onlyIf {
+		japicmp.state.failure != null
+	}
+	doLast {
+		def reportFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
+		if (reportFile.exists()) {
+			println "\n **********************************"
+			println " * /!\\ API compatibility failures *"
+			println " **********************************"
+			println "Japicmp report was filtered and interpreted to find the following incompatibilities:"
+			reportFile.eachLine {
+				if (it.contains("*") && (!it.contains("***") || it.contains("****")))
+					println "source incompatible change: $it"
+				else if (it.contains("!"))
+					println "binary incompatible change: $it"
+			}
+		}
+		else println "No incompatible change to report"
+	}
+}
+
 task japicmp(type: JapicmpTask) {
+	finalizedBy(japicmpReport)
+	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
 	oldClasspath.from(files("${buildDir}/baselineLibs/reactor-netty-http-${compatibleVersion}.jar"))
-	newClasspath.from(files(jar.archiveFile, project(':reactor-netty-core').jar))
-	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true
+	newClasspath.from(files(jar.archiveFile))
+	// these onlyXxx parameters result in a report that is slightly too noisy, but better than
+	// onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = true which masks source-incompatible-only changes
+	onlyBinaryIncompatibleModified = false
+	onlyModified = true
 	failOnModification = true
 	failOnSourceIncompatibility = true
 	txtOutputFile = file("${project.buildDir}/reports/japi.txt")
 	ignoreMissingClasses = true
 	includeSynthetic = true
-	onlyIf { "$compatibleVersion" != "SKIP" }
+
+	compatibilityChangeExcludes = [ "METHOD_NEW_DEFAULT" ]
 }
 
 tasks.japicmp.dependsOn(downloadBaseline)