| Project | Alpha | Beta | Current Stable | Old Stable | End of Life | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Management | Preview | Production | Migration | Cleanup | |||
| Packaging | Developmental | Active | Unsupported | ||||
Project
Projects, such as Open-Source Software or a branch of 3rd-party software, generally have the following life cycle:
| Project Status | Stability | Feature Changes | Breaking Changes | Security Updates | Bug Fixes | Recommended Upgrade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Rapidly changing | Added or removed | Likely | Features over security | Within development goals | |
| Beta | Only necessary changes | Added or removed | Less Likely | Before stable | Before stable | |
| Current Stable | Stable; production-ready | Added only | Not expected | Yes | Yes | |
| Old Stable | Mature; maintenance mode | Security and critical bugs only | Not expected | Yes | Critical only | Current Stable |
| End of Life | No changes will be made | None | None | No | No | Current Stable or Old Stable |
Management
| Management Status | Upgrade Assistance | Forced Upgrade | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | From | To | ||
| Preview | Technical preview only | ||||
| Production | Full production support | ||||
| Migration | Old Stable | Current Stable | Upgrade window | ||
| End of Life | Current Stable | End of Life | Old Stable | ||
| Old Stable | |||||
| Cleanup | Packages removed | ||||
Packaging
| Packaging Status | Release Frequency | Rebuild on Updated Dependencies |
|---|---|---|
| Developmental | Intermittent | Yes, when possible |
| Active | Weekly | Yes |
| Unsupported | Never | No |