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Tooling Maintenance Policy

Release Naming

Each release will adopt Semantic Versioning.

We will publish release notes of all changes for each tool. You can find these on GitHub:

Release communications will summarise changes and provide a link to the relevant release note containing all changes.

In the Control Panel, there has historically been a loose naming convention for tooling releases. Going forward, we will adopt a clearer naming convention in the form:

[release x.y.z] Tool Name x.y.z

For example, for Visual Studio Code, this will appear as:

[vscode 2.3.0] Visual Studio Code 2.3.0

Semantic versions will match across both the GitHub repository and the Control Panel.

Release Schedule

Our Release Schedule is outlined below.

High-Importance Security Patching

  • Timing: As needed, outside the regular release schedule.
  • Process: Critical security patches will be applied and released immediately upon identification.

Release Cadence

Monthly Releases

  • Goal: Ensure each software image (Visual Studio Code, JupyterLab, RStudio) is updated with the latest features, patches, and security improvements.
  • Release Date: Scheduled issues are set to maintain the images on the first of every month.

Release Latest Image (Version n)

  • A new image (version n) is created, tested, and ready for deployment. This becomes the latest release.
  • Version n is made available to customers to deploy in the Control Panel.

Deprecated Image (Version n-1) Remains

  • The previous image (version n-1) is deprecated and remains available and supported.
  • Updates for n-1 cease, but support is still available.

Retired Image (Version n-2)

  • The older image (version n-2) is retired and no longer available for download or use.

Version Availability

  • At any time, only the Latest (n) and Previous (n-1) versions are supported and available.
  • Customers will be informed about the discontinuation of version n-2 upon the release of version n.
  • Version n-1 and n-2 can be any MAJOR, MINOR, or PATCH update as per Semantic Versioning definitions.

Release Communications

Communications for each new release will be sent to the #ask-analytical-platform channel. An example of this communication can be seen here.

This page was last reviewed on 6 November 2024. It needs to be reviewed again on 6 December 2024 by the page owner #analytical-platform-support .