Release versioning

Starting with v2.16, YugabyteDB follows a new release versioning convention for stable (production-ready) and preview (development) releases. There are now three release types: long-term stable (LTS), standard-term stable (STS), and preview. The following sections cover the new release versioning convention and describe the release series types.

Release versioning convention

YugabyteDB follows the semantic versioning (SemVer) convention for numbering release versions, modified slightly to use even and odd minor releases denote stable and development releases, respectively. Release versions follow the versioning format of MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.REVISION, where non-negative integers are used for:

• MAJOR — Includes substantial changes.
• MINOR — Incremented when new features and changes are introduced.
  • EVEN — Stable minor release, intended for production deployments.
  • ODD — Preview minor release, intended for development and testing.
• PATCH — Patches in a stable release (MAJOR.EVEN.PATCH) include bug fixes and revisions that do not break backward compatibility. For patches in the preview release series (MAJOR.ODD.PATCH), new features and changes are introduced that might break backward compatibility.
• REVISION - Occasionally, a revision is required to address an issue without delay. Most releases are a .0 revision level.

Examples are included in the relevant sections below.

Stable releases

Releases in LTS (long-term stable) and STS (standard-term stable) release series, denoted by MAJOR.EVEN versioning, introduce fully tested new features and changes added after the last stable release. A stable release series is based on the preceding preview release series. For example, the v2.16 STS release series is based on the v2.15 preview release series.

Patch and revision releases in a stable release series (MAJOR.EVEN) include bug fixes and revisions that do not break backward compatibility.

Preview releases

Releases in the preview release series, denoted by MAJOR.ODD versioning, are under active development and incrementally introduce new features and changes, and are intended for development, testing, and proof-of-concept projects. The v2.13 preview release series became the basis for the v2.14 LTS release series. The current preview version is 2.17.3.0.

Patch releases in the preview release series (MAJOR.ODD.PATCH) introduce new features, enhancements, and fixes.