shorewall_code/docs/ReleaseModel.xml

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  <articleinfo>
    <title>Shorewall Release Model</title>

    <authorgroup>
      <author>
        <firstname>Tom</firstname>

        <surname>Eastep</surname>
      </author>
    </authorgroup>

    <pubdate><?dbtimestamp format="Y/m/d"?></pubdate>

    <copyright>
      <year>2004</year>

      <year>2005</year>

      <year>2006</year>

      <year>2007</year>

      <year>2008</year>

      <year>2009</year>

      <year>2010</year>

      <year>2012</year>

      <year>2013</year>

      <holder>Thomas M. Eastep</holder>
    </copyright>

    <legalnotice>
      <para>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, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
      Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
      <quote><ulink url="GnuCopyright.htm">GNU Free Documentation
      License</ulink></quote>.</para>
    </legalnotice>
  </articleinfo>

  <section id="Releases">
    <title>Shorewall Releases</title>

    <orderedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>Releases have a three-level identification
        <firstterm>x.y.z</firstterm> (e.g., 4.5.0).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The first two levels (<emphasis>x.y</emphasis>) designate the
        <firstterm>major release number</firstterm> (e.g., 4.5).</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>The third level (<emphasis>y</emphasis>) designates the
        <firstterm>minor release Number</firstterm>.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Installing a new minor release involves no migration issues
        unless you want to take advantage of an enhancement. For example, if
        you are running 4.5.0 and I release 4.5.1, your current configuration
        is 100% compatible with the new release.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>A major release may have migration issues. These are listed in
        the release notes and on the <ulink url="upgrade_issues.htm">upgrade
        issues page</ulink>.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Support is available through the <ulink
        url="http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=22587">Mailing List</ulink>
        for the most recent Major Release.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>After the introduction of a new major release, support is still
        available for the prior major release until the principle
        distributions have upgraded to that new release. Fixes will only be
        provided for the last minor release in the previous Major Release. For
        example, once 4.5.0 was released, the only fixes for major issues with
        4.4.27 would be released for the 4.4 series.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Support for the prior major release ends once the major Linux
        distributions have upgraded to that release. </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Once a minor release has been announced, work begins on the next
        minor release. Periodic Beta releases are made available through
        announcements on the Shorewall Development and Shorewall User mailing
        lists. Those Beta releases are numberd w.x.y-Beta1, ...Beta2, etc.
        Support for the Beta releases is offered through the Shorewall
        Development mailing list in the form of emailed patches. There is no
        guarantee of compatability between one Beta release and the next as
        features are tweaked.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>When the next minor release is functionally complete, one or
        more <firstterm>release candidates</firstterm> are announced on the
        Shorewall Development and Shorewall User mailing lists. These release
        candidates are numbered w.x.y-RC1, ...-RC2, etc.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>What does it mean for a major release to be
        <firstterm>supported</firstterm>? It means that that if a bug is
        found, we will fix the bug and include the fix in the next minor
        release.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>Between minor releases, bug fixes are made available via
        <firstterm>patch releases</firstterm>. A patch release has a
        four-level identification <emphasis>x.y.z.N</emphasis> where x.y.z is
        the minor release being fixed and N = 1.2.3...</para>
      </listitem>
    </orderedlist>

    <para>The currently-supported major release 4.5.</para>
  </section>
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