CKAN releases

This document describes the different types of CKAN releases, and explains which releases are officially supported at any given time.

Note

The currently supported CKAN version is CKAN 2.11.0

Security and performance fixes are also provided for CKAN 2.10.5.

Read more about officially supported versions

Release types

CKAN follows a predictable release cycle so that users can depend on stable releases of CKAN, and can plan their upgrades to new releases.

Each release has a version number of the form M.m (eg. 2.11) or M.m.p (eg. 2.10.5), where M is the major version, m is the minor version and p is the patch version number. There are three types of release:

Major Releases

Major releases, such as CKAN 1.0 and CKAN 2.0, increment the major version number. These releases contain major changes in the CKAN code base, with significant refactorings and breaking changes, for instance in the API or the templates. These releases are very infrequent.

Minor Releases

Minor releases, such as CKAN 2.9 and CKAN 2.10, increment the minor version number. These releases are not as disruptive as major releases, but they may include some backwards-incompatible changes. The Changelog will document any breaking changes. We aim to release a minor version of CKAN roughly twice a year.

Patch Releases

Patch releases, such as CKAN 2.9.5 or CKAN 2.10.1, increment the patch version number. These releases do not break backwards-compatibility, they include only bug fixes for security and performance issues. Patch releases do not contain:

  • Database schema changes or migrations (unless addressing security issues)

  • Solr schema changes

  • Function interface changes

  • Plugin interface changes

  • New dependencies (unless addressing security issues)

  • Big refactorings or new features in critical parts of the code

Patch releases include requirements upgrades that patch vulnerabilities in CKAN requirements. Sometimes upgrading a requirement might mean breaking backwards compatibility. In these cases the Tech Team will decide whether to apply the upgrade to an existing patch release taking into account the actual risk of the vulnerability and the potential for breaking existing CKAN sites.

Warning

Outdated patch releases will no longer be supported after a newer patch release has been released. For example once CKAN 2.9.2 has been released, CKAN 2.9.1 will no longer be supported. It is critical to always run the latest patch release for a minor version as it is the only one that contains all security patches.

Releases are announced on the ckan-announce mailing list, a low-volume list that CKAN instance maintainers can subscribe to in order to be up to date with upcoming releases.

Supported versions

At any one time, the CKAN Tech Team will support the latest patch release of the last released minor version plus the last patch release of the previous minor version.

The previous minor version will only receive security and bug fixes. If a patch does not clearly fit in these categories, it is up to the maintainers to decide if it can be backported to a previous version.

The latest patch releases are the only ones officially supported. Users should always run the latest patch release for the minor release they are on, as they contain important bug fixes and security updates. Running CKAN in an unsupported version puts your site and data at risk.

Because patch releases don’t include backwards incompatible changes, the upgrade process (as described in Upgrading a CKAN 2 package install to a new patch release) should be straightforward.

Extension maintainers can decide at their discretion to support older CKAN versions.

See also

Changelog

The changelog lists all CKAN releases and the main changes introduced in each release.

Doing a CKAN release

Documentation of the process that the CKAN developers follow to do a CKAN release.