diff --git a/.kokoro/build.sh b/.kokoro/build.sh
index 19726ced77..f506e46c10 100755
--- a/.kokoro/build.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/build.sh
@@ -20,17 +20,22 @@ scriptDir=$(realpath $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"))
 ## cd to the parent directory, i.e. the root of the git repo
 cd ${scriptDir}/..
 
+# include common functions
+source ${scriptDir}/common.sh
+
 # Print out Java version
 java -version
 echo ${JOB_TYPE}
 
-mvn install -B -V \
-  -DskipTests=true \
-  -Dclirr.skip=true \
-  -Denforcer.skip=true \
-  -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true \
-  -Dgcloud.download.skip=true \
-  -T 1C
+# attempt to install 3 times with exponential backoff (starting with 10 seconds)
+retry_with_backoff 3 10 \
+  mvn install -B -V \
+    -DskipTests=true \
+    -Dclirr.skip=true \
+    -Denforcer.skip=true \
+    -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true \
+    -Dgcloud.download.skip=true \
+    -T 1C
 
 # if GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDIENTIALS is specified as a relative path prepend Kokoro root directory onto it
 if [[ ! -z "${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS}" && "${GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS}" != /* ]]; then
diff --git a/.kokoro/common.sh b/.kokoro/common.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a3bbc5f679
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.kokoro/common.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2020 Google LLC
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# set -eo pipefail
+
+function retry_with_backoff {
+    attempts_left=$1
+    sleep_seconds=$2
+    shift 2
+    command=$@
+
+    echo "${command}"
+    ${command}
+    exit_code=$?
+
+    if [[ $exit_code == 0 ]]
+    then
+        return 0
+    fi
+
+    # failure
+    if [[ ${attempts_left} > 0 ]]
+    then
+        echo "failure (${exit_code}), sleeping ${sleep_seconds}..."
+        sleep ${sleep_seconds}
+        new_attempts=$((${attempts_left} - 1))
+        new_sleep=$((${sleep_seconds} * 2))
+        retry_with_backoff ${new_attempts} ${new_sleep} ${command}
+    fi
+
+    return $exit_code
+}
diff --git a/.kokoro/dependencies.sh b/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
index 3fc816b94c..0aade871ce 100755
--- a/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/dependencies.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,13 @@
 
 set -eo pipefail
 
-cd github/java-core/
+## Get the directory of the build script
+scriptDir=$(realpath $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"))
+## cd to the parent directory, i.e. the root of the git repo
+cd ${scriptDir}/..
+
+# include common functions
+source ${scriptDir}/common.sh
 
 # Print out Java
 java -version
@@ -24,8 +30,9 @@ echo $JOB_TYPE
 export MAVEN_OPTS="-Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m"
 
 # this should run maven enforcer
-mvn install -B -V \
-  -DskipTests=true \
-  -Dclirr.skip=true
+retry_with_backoff 3 10 \
+  mvn install -B -V \
+    -DskipTests=true \
+    -Dclirr.skip=true
 
 mvn -B dependency:analyze -DfailOnWarning=true
diff --git a/.kokoro/linkage-monitor.sh b/.kokoro/linkage-monitor.sh
index 01f61f803c..759ab4e2c2 100755
--- a/.kokoro/linkage-monitor.sh
+++ b/.kokoro/linkage-monitor.sh
@@ -17,18 +17,26 @@ set -eo pipefail
 # Display commands being run.
 set -x
 
-cd github/java-core/
+## Get the directory of the build script
+scriptDir=$(realpath $(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}"))
+## cd to the parent directory, i.e. the root of the git repo
+cd ${scriptDir}/..
+
+# include common functions
+source ${scriptDir}/common.sh
 
 # Print out Java version
 java -version
 echo ${JOB_TYPE}
 
-mvn install -B -V \
-  -DskipTests=true \
-  -Dclirr.skip=true \
-  -Denforcer.skip=true \
-  -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true \
-  -Dgcloud.download.skip=true
+# attempt to install 3 times with exponential backoff (starting with 10 seconds)
+retry_with_backoff 3 10 \
+  mvn install -B -V \
+    -DskipTests=true \
+    -Dclirr.skip=true \
+    -Denforcer.skip=true \
+    -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true \
+    -Dgcloud.download.skip=true
 
 # Kokoro job cloud-opensource-java/ubuntu/linkage-monitor-gcs creates this JAR
 JAR=linkage-monitor-latest-all-deps.jar
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5218a786fe..38aa044c32 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 # Changelog
 
+### [1.93.4](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/compare/v1.93.3...v1.93.4) (2020-04-06)
+
+
+### Dependencies
+
+* update core dependencies ([#198](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/issues/198)) ([129b3f8](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/commit/129b3f8b03e6809bcae9545a6c2484aa8acc2447))
+* update dependency com.google.api:api-common to v1.9.0 ([#195](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/issues/195)) ([ac19258](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/commit/ac192586f086b91f479e85e4677ac2d10f10968a))
+* update dependency com.google.api:gax-bom to v1.56.0 ([#201](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/issues/201)) ([875c4ed](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/commit/875c4ed001193dfe2c301ad7f163395a568bcb10))
+* update dependency org.threeten:threetenbp to v1.4.3 ([#192](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/issues/192)) ([ce6ec17](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/commit/ce6ec179e4024264c0aee09f85f6f60218d46138))
+
 ### [1.93.3](https://www.github.com/googleapis/java-core/compare/v1.93.2...v1.93.3) (2020-03-16)
 
 
diff --git a/google-cloud-core-bom/pom.xml b/google-cloud-core-bom/pom.xml
index e819095707..ca23bfd8f2 100644
--- a/google-cloud-core-bom/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-core-bom/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-core-bom</artifactId>
-  <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+  <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
@@ -63,17 +63,17 @@
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
         <artifactId>google-cloud-core</artifactId>
-        <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+        <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
         <artifactId>google-cloud-core-grpc</artifactId>
-        <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+        <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
       </dependency>
       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
         <artifactId>google-cloud-core-http</artifactId>
-        <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+        <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
       </dependency>
     </dependencies>
   </dependencyManagement>
diff --git a/google-cloud-core-grpc/pom.xml b/google-cloud-core-grpc/pom.xml
index b6bb373c38..0fe7b36e71 100644
--- a/google-cloud-core-grpc/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-core-grpc/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-core-grpc</artifactId>
-  <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+  <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud Core gRPC</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-core</url>
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-core-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+    <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   </parent>
   <properties>
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-core-grpc</site.installationModule>
diff --git a/google-cloud-core-http/pom.xml b/google-cloud-core-http/pom.xml
index fd7d2bfbd0..3a2272be1d 100644
--- a/google-cloud-core-http/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-core-http/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-core-http</artifactId>
-  <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+  <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud Core HTTP</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-core</url>
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-core-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+    <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   </parent>
   <properties>
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-core-http</site.installationModule>
diff --git a/google-cloud-core/pom.xml b/google-cloud-core/pom.xml
index 445fd81908..0d0aaa533a 100644
--- a/google-cloud-core/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-core/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-core</artifactId>
-  <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+  <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>Google Cloud Core</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-core</url>
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
     <artifactId>google-cloud-core-parent</artifactId>
-    <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+    <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   </parent>
   <properties>
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-core</site.installationModule>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 22a6a778ed..b6eec20a4c 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <groupId>com.google.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>google-cloud-core-parent</artifactId>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
-  <version>1.93.3</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
+  <version>1.93.4</version><!-- {x-version-update:google-cloud-core:current} -->
   <name>Google Cloud Core Parent</name>
   <url>https://github.com/googleapis/java-core</url>
   <description>
@@ -153,14 +153,14 @@
     <site.installationModule>google-cloud-core-parent</site.installationModule>
     <auto-value.version>1.7</auto-value.version>
     <auto-value-annotations.version>1.7</auto-value-annotations.version>
-    <gax.version>1.54.0</gax.version>
-    <google.api-common.version>1.8.1</google.api-common.version>
+    <gax.version>1.56.0</gax.version>
+    <google.api-common.version>1.9.0</google.api-common.version>
     <google.common-protos.version>1.17.0</google.common-protos.version>
     <google.iam.version>0.13.0</google.iam.version>
     <google.auth.version>0.20.0</google.auth.version>
     <google.api.version>1.30.9</google.api.version>
     <google.http.version>1.34.2</google.http.version>
-    <grpc.version>1.27.2</grpc.version>
+    <grpc.version>1.28.1</grpc.version>
     <protobuf.version>3.11.4</protobuf.version>
     <opencensus.version>0.24.0</opencensus.version>
     <annotations-api.version>1.3.2</annotations-api.version>
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
     <truth.version>1.0.1</truth.version>
     <easymock.version>3.6</easymock.version>
     <findbugs.version>3.0.2</findbugs.version>
-    <threetenbp.version>1.4.1</threetenbp.version>
+    <threetenbp.version>1.4.3</threetenbp.version>
     <objenesis.version>2.6</objenesis.version>
     <errorprone.version>2.3.4</errorprone.version>
     <gson.version>2.8.6</gson.version>
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index fc6412701a..c4e2931d46 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@
     },
     {
       "packagePatterns": [
-        "^com.google.cloud:libraries-bom"
+        "^com.google.cloud:google-cloud-core",
+        "^com.google.cloud:libraries-bom",
+        "^com.google.cloud.samples:shared-configuration"
       ],
       "semanticCommitType": "chore",
       "semanticCommitScope": "deps"
@@ -75,4 +77,4 @@
     }
   ],
   "semanticCommits": true
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/synth.metadata b/synth.metadata
index 06bf95877b..833650b1e4 100644
--- a/synth.metadata
+++ b/synth.metadata
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 {
-  "updateTime": "2020-03-14T09:16:31.108382Z",
+  "updateTime": "2020-03-25T23:35:19.763220Z",
   "sources": [
     {
-      "template": {
-        "name": "java_library",
-        "origin": "synthtool.gcp",
-        "version": "2020.2.4"
+      "git": {
+        "name": "synthtool",
+        "remote": "https://github.com/googleapis/synthtool.git",
+        "sha": "e36822bfa0acb355502dab391b8ef9c4f30208d8"
       }
     }
   ]
diff --git a/synth.py b/synth.py
index b3e7b1e030..646372929e 100644
--- a/synth.py
+++ b/synth.py
@@ -14,14 +14,12 @@
 
 """This script is used to synthesize generated parts of this library."""
 
-import synthtool as s
-import synthtool.gcp as gcp
-import logging
-logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
-common_templates = gcp.CommonTemplates()
-templates = common_templates.java_library()
-s.copy(templates, excludes=[
-  '.gitignore',
+import synthtool.languages.java as java
+
+AUTOSYNTH_MULTIPLE_COMMITS = True
+
+java.common_templates(excludes=[
   'README.md',
+  'samples/*',
 ])
 
diff --git a/versions.txt b/versions.txt
index 6a76ae69ca..b86cb48d8e 100644
--- a/versions.txt
+++ b/versions.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Format:
 # module:released-version:current-version
 
-google-cloud-core:1.93.3:1.93.3
\ No newline at end of file
+google-cloud-core:1.93.4:1.93.4
\ No newline at end of file