Every ILIAS version will be fully supported until the end of the year after the year it was released in. Fully supported means that every kind of issue that is reported for the release according to our bugfixing process is eligible for a fix. E.g.: A usability issue, reported for ILIAS 8 (released 2022), can be reported in August 2023 and is eligible for a fix then.
Every ILIAS version will then gain security support for an additional year after that. Security support means that we are fixing security issues only. E.g.: A security issue, reported for ILIAS 8 (release 2022), can be reported in August 2024 and is eligible for a fix then. A malfunction that does make the program crash, reported at the same moment, won't be eligible for a fix.
With that support schedule, every version will have (roughly) the following timeline:
| Date | ILIAS X | ILIAS (X+1) | ILIAS (X+2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20X0, Nov | Project Jour Fixe | ||
| 20X1, Apr | Feature Freeze | ||
| 20X1, Oct | Start of Beta Phase | ||
| 20X1, Nov | Project Jour Fixe | ||
| 20X2, Mar | Release | ||
| 20X2, Apr | Feature Freeze | ||
| 20X2, Oct | Start of Beta Phase | ||
| 20X2, Nov | Project Jour Fixe | ||
| 20X3, Mar | Release | ||
| 20X3, Apr | Feature Freeze | ||
| 20X3, Oct | Start of Beta Phase | ||
| 20X3, Dec | End of Full Support | ||
| 20X4, Dec | End of Security Support | End of Full Support |
- If we follow this optimal timeline, users have roughly 3/4 year to update to the next fully supported version. This can be expanded to 1 3/4 year if users skip every other fully supported version.
- From the project planning jour fixe to the end of security support, every version is active for a little more then four years.
- Most of the time, the community will need to keep track of four different version in different states of their life cycle.
- Most of the changes that fix issues will need to be included in three branches, fixes for security issues will need to be included in four branches.