Release Policy

Zentyal server development follows time based release cycle: a stable Zentyal release is published once a year, in September. The Zentyal Development Team opted for time based release cycle most importantly because it makes easier, for both users and for developers, to make long-term decisions regarding the development, deployment and maintenance of the server and helps the Development Team to deliver well tested, high-quality software.

It is important to notice that all Zentyal releases are based on the Ubuntu LTS versions. Each Zentyal release is based on the Ubuntu LTS version that is available at the moment the release is launched.

Zentyal Release Cycle

There are three types of Zentyal server releases the Zentyal Development Team will publish during the Zentyal Release Cycle: Beta versions, Release Candidates and Stable versions. The stable versions will be supported for three years after which they reach their "end of life" date and become unsupported.

Zentyal Beta versions

Zentyal Beta versions are unstable software releases that are published from September to June. These beta versions introduce new features that are not yet fully tested for bugs. As the Zentyal Development team follows the "Release early, release often" guideline, there might be an important number of beta versions published during this time period.

Beta releases always have odd minor numbers: 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 2.1...

As Beta versions will eventually become stable releases, this means that 2.1 series will follow this pattern: 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, .... 2.1.10, 2.1.11, 2.1.x -> 2.2

Zentyal Release Candidates

Zentyal Release Candidates are published from July to September, during the three months stabilization period. There are as many release candidates as the Development Team deems necessary to stabilize the new code and bug fixes introduced before publishing the next stable version.

Release candidates always have the version number of the next stable release and the "rc" suffix to indicate that the version is a release candidate. A suffix of "rc1" would be used for the first release candidate, "rc2" for the second release candidate, "rc3" for the third release candidate, and so on: 2.2-rc1, 2.2-rc2...

Stable Zentyal versions

Stable Zentyal versions are published once a year, in September. Stable releases always have even major numbers: 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, 2.0, 2.2...

Timetable

• July: Zentyal development is frozen. Three months stabilization period starts. The necessary release candidate versions are published during this period.
• September: Stable Zentyal version is published.
• October-June: Zentyal development continues. The necessary beta versions are published during this period.

Support policy

 The Zentyal Development Team offers three years of support for the stable Zentyal versions. This means that since the publication of a stable Zentyal version, support for all security issues as well as commercial support and subscription services will be granted for this version during the next three years. After this time period, the stable version reaches its "end of life" date and becomes unsupported.