Version support policy

by Steve McMahon — last modified Apr 17, 2013 07:55 PM
Contributors: Graham Perrin
The Plone community actively maintains one major version of Plone. For security issues, support is greater: two major versions.

Definitions

Major version

  • 2.5.x, 3.x and 4.x are major versions of Plone
  • 5.x will be a major version of Plone

Minor version

  • 2.5.1, 2.5.2, 2.5.3, 2.5.4 and 2.5.5 are minor versions of Plone
  • 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 are minor
  • 4.1 and 4.2 will be minor
  • 5.1 will be minor.

Maintenance

Active maintenance (e.g. development, bug fixes, refinements, except for critical security issues) applies to one major version.

Exception: periods of transition

Following the release of a new major version, until the release of its first minor version, two versions will be maintained:

  • following the release of 4.0, active maintenance will apply to both 3.x and 4.0
  • following the release of 4.1, active maintenance of 3.x will cease

Security

Active security support applies to two major versions.  Currently, this is Plone 4.x and Plone 3.x.

Exceptions

A security-related fix that is practical for the current major version may be impractical for previous versions. Example:

  • The May 2008 hotfix for CVE-2008-0164 was included with the May 2008 release of Plone 3.1.1. In the absence of a CSRF-related fix for 2.5.x, the documentation offers workarounds.

End of Life

The following versions of Plone are considered to be "End of Life" (EOL) and are no longer receiving active maintenance, security fixes or official releases:

  • Plone 2.5.x
  • Plone 2.1.x
  • Plone 2.0.x
  • Plone 1.0.x

Because Plone is open-source software, you are always welcome to make fixes to end-of-life versions release your fixes as add-on products for Plone, and/or hire consultants to do the same.  We welcome and encourage such maintenance activities.

Community approaches to improvements and fixes

Plone is an open-source software project developed by hundreds of collaborators worldwide. Progress depends on the skills and interests of these people and others in the community.

While there is no guarantee that any particular fix or development will be incorporated, we believe that Plone has an excellent record in these areas. We invite your scrutiny and suggestions.

Related content
Releases