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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>Shorewall Release Model</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="html.css" type="text/css" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.73.2" /></head><body><div class="article" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title"><a id="id257527"></a>Shorewall Release Model</h2></div><div><div class="authorgroup"><div class="author"><h3 class="author"><span class="firstname">Tom</span> <span class="surname">Eastep</span></h3></div></div></div><div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Thomas M. Eastep</p></div><div><div class="legalnotice"><a id="id257923"></a><p>Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version
1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with
no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
“<span class="quote"><a class="ulink" href="GnuCopyright.htm" target="_self">GNU Free Documentation
License</a></span>”.</p></div></div><div><p class="pubdate">2008/12/15</p></div></div><hr /></div><div class="toc"><p><b>Table of Contents</b></p><dl><dt><span class="section"><a href="#Releases">Shorewall Releases</a></span></dt></dl></div><div class="section" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="Releases"></a>Shorewall Releases</h2></div></div></div><div class="orderedlist"><ol type="1"><li><p>Releases have a three-level identification
<em class="firstterm">x.y.z</em> (e.g., 2.0.3).</p></li><li><p>The first two levels (<span class="emphasis"><em>x.y</em></span>) designate the
<em class="firstterm">Major Release Number</em> (e.g., 2.0).</p></li><li><p>The third level (<span class="emphasis"><em>z</em></span>) designates the
<em class="firstterm">Minor Release Number</em>.</p></li><li><p>Even numbered major releases (e.g., 1.4, 2.0, 2.2, ...) are
<em class="firstterm">Stable Releases</em>. No major new features are
added to stable releases and new minor releases of a stable release
will only contain bug fixes and simple low-risk enhancements.
Installing a new minor release for the major release that you are
currently running involves no migration issues unless you want to take
advantage of an enhancement (for example, if you are running 1.4.10
and I release 1.4.11, your current configuration is 100% compatible
with the new release).</p></li><li><p>Support is available through the <a class="ulink" href="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=22587" target="_self">Mailing List</a>
for the two most recent Stable Releases.</p></li><li><p>Odd numbered major releases (e.g., 2.1, 2.3, ...) are
<em class="firstterm">Development Releases</em>. Development releases are
where new functionality is introduced. Documentation for new features
will be available but it may not be up to the standards of the stable
release documentation. Sites running Development Releases should be
prepared to play an active role in testing new features. Bug fixes and
problem resolution for the development release take a back seat to
support of the stable releases. Problem reports for the current
development release should be sent to the <a class="ulink" href="mailto:shorewall-devel@lists.shorewall.net" target="_self">Shorewall Development
Mailing List</a>.</p></li><li><p>When the level of functionality of the current development
release is judged adequate, the <em class="firstterm">Beta period</em> for
a new Stable release will begin. Beta releases have identifications of
the form <span class="emphasis"><em>x.y.0-BetaN</em></span> where
<span class="emphasis"><em>x.y</em></span> is the number of the next Stable Release and
<span class="emphasis"><em>N</em></span>=1,2,3... . Betas are expected to occur roughly
once per year. Beta releases may contain new functionality not present
in the previous beta release (e.g., 2.2.0-Beta4 may contain
functionality not present in 2.2.0-Beta3). When I'm confident that the
current Beta release is stable, I will release the first
<em class="firstterm">Release Candidate</em>. Release candidates have
identifications of the form <span class="emphasis"><em>x.y.0-RCn</em></span> where
<span class="emphasis"><em>x.y</em></span> is the number of the next Stable Release and
<span class="emphasis"><em>n</em></span>=1,2,3... . Release candidates contain no new
functionality -- they only contain bug fixes. When the stability of
the current release candidate is judged to be sufficient then that
release candidate will be released as the new stable release (e.g.,
2.2.0). At that time, the new stable release and the prior stable
release are those that are supported.</p></li><li><p>What does it mean for a major release to be
<em class="firstterm">supported</em>? It means that I will answer
questions about the release and that if a bug is found, I will fix the
bug and include the fix in the next minor release.</p></li><li><p>Between minor releases, bug fixes will continue to be made
available through the <a class="ulink" href="errata.htm" target="_self">Errata page</a> for
each major release.</p></li><li><p>Additionally, bug fixes may be made available in the form of a
<em class="firstterm">patch release</em>. Patch releases have four-level
identifications (e.g., 4.0.6.1); the first three identify the minor
release and the fourth identifies the patch level.</p></li></ol></div><p>The currently-supported major releases are and 4.0.x. and
4.2.x.</p></div></div></body></html>
