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Astronomer supports a variety of policies that drives the naming, release cadence, and maintenance commitments associated with all published software. This document offers guidelines on the version lifecycle of Astro Private Cloud (APC). It includes a description of:
  • How APC is versioned.
  • Which versions of APC are currently available.
  • Release channels and the maintenance schedule for all versions.
For information on the latest APC releases, see Release notes. For information on compatibility between all versioned software, see APC Version compatibility reference.
These policies apply only to the APC platform. For release and lifecycle policies related to Astro Runtime, see Runtime release and lifecycle Policy.

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Release channels

To meet the unique needs of different operating environments, we offer all Astronomer customers two release channels:
  • Stable: Includes the latest Astro Private Cloud and Airflow features
  • Long-term Support (LTS): Includes long-term testing, stability, and maintenance for a core set of features
All releases of APC are considered stable. The LTS release channel is a subset of the stable release channel that promises extended stability, reliability, and support from our team. For customers looking to access Astro Private Cloud’s newest features on an incremental basis, Astronomer recommends following the standard release channel and upgrading to new versions as soon as they are made available.
Release channels apply to APC image versions. Astronomer doesn’t currently support a long-term release channel for the Astro CLI or Airflow versions.

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Astro Private Cloud versioning

Astro Private Cloud follows Semantic Versioning for all published APC. This means that Astronomer use Major, Minor, and Patch releases across the product in the format of major.minor.patch.
  • Major versions: Significant feature additions, including backward-incompatible changes to an API or Dag specification.
  • Minor versions: Functional changes, including backward-compatible changes to an API or Dag specification.
  • Patch versions: Bug and security fixes that resolve incorrect behavior.
It’s safe to upgrade to minor and patch versions within a major version. Upgrade guidance for major and LTS versions is provided with each release.

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Version release cadence

Astro Private Cloud major, minor, and patch versions are released approximately on the following cadence:
  • The standard support period for major and minor releases is two years.
  • LTS extends the support period to three years.
  • For each major.minor pair, only the latest patch is supported at any given time.

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Backport policy for bug and security fixes

When a new minor version is released within a major release series (for example, 1.1 within the 1.x series), the previous minor version (for example, 1.0) no longer receives new feature or bug fix patches. Astronomer recommends upgrading to the latest minor version to receive continued bug fixes and new features. If a major stability bug is identified by our team, they backport the fix to all LTS versions, and only the latest stable version. For users on a stable version that isn’t latest, our team recommends that you upgrade. Major issues in this category can result in significant delays in task scheduling as well as potential data loss. If a major security issue is identified, Astronomer will release fixes as new patch versions for all supported major.minor versions within their support window, including both stable and LTS releases, in accordance with Astronomer’s CVE policy. Major issues in this category are classified by a combination of impact and exploitability.

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Astro Private Cloud lifecycle schedule

The following tables contain the exact lifecycle for each published version of APC. These timelines are based on the LTS and stable release channel maintenance policies.

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Stable

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Astronomer Software 0.3x lifecycle schedule

The following tables contain the lifecycle for each published version of Astronomer Software 0.3x. For the full Astronomer Software 0.3x release and lifecycle policy, see the Software 0.37 documentation.

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Supported