Open OnDemand code releases utilize a XXX.YYY.ZZZ numbering scheme (e.g. 2.0.29), where:
- XXX is the major version number
- YYY is the minor version number
- ZZZ is the patch version number
Major versions have large sets of new features and functionalities. They can include breaking changes that prevent seamless upgrading from previous versions. They can also include removal of functionality or configuration that has been deprecated in previous versions.
Minor versions will contain new functionality that's backward compatible. They may also contain bug fixes that are not in the prior releases' patch versions.
Minor versions will also introduce deprecations to functionality or configurations that maybe be removed in the next major version.
Patch versions will only contain security fixes and bug fixes.
Nightly packages (.rpm and .deb) are built every night from of the current commit in the main branch and released to the nightly repository. They have varying degrees of stability, mostly related to the release cycle. The closer in time they are to a release the more stable they're generally considered.
Dependency updates may come anywhere in the release cycle. For example even in
a patch release. Dependencies (like ruby or nodejs) updates are largely driven
by the operating systems we support.
If a dependency has reached it's end of life for support from an operating system, we may update that dependency even in a patch release.
Minor, major and patch versions may all include dependency updates should a dependency reach the end of life within a given release cycle.
We create two types of tags. The first are regular tags like v3.0.0 which is a real
production version. The other are release candidates like v3.0.0-rc8. Release candidates
are created for testing purposes by OSC, though they're freely available to anyone to
also test. Release candidates are considered stable, but could contain bugs.
Patch versions are released as needed. Major and minor versions are released as time permits the team to develop features.
All versions are typically tested first in production for at least a week at OSC and other early adopter sites prior to being marked as an official release.
The Open OnDemand team will only provide general support / backporting for a major/minor version for a period of 3 months after the next major/minor version is released (i.e. version 2.0 will only be supported for 3 months after the release of 3.0). This includes providing concurrent patch versions for relevant security / bug fixes where possible (i.e. the developers would release a 2.0.1 version alongside a 3.0.1 version if released within 3 months of the 3.0 release). The Open OnDemand community is welcome to generate pull requests for additional backport code changes outside of that time frame.