VyOS Networks Blog

Hello,  Community!

Now that the 1.3.4 LTS release is over and the upcoming 1.4.0 release is on its path to the first early production access release, we'd like to clarify the support policy for our LTS releases to help support customers plan their updates. In short, the three latest minor versions in each LTS release line are supported unconditionally, but if your version is older, we will likely ask you to upgrade before we can take further steps to help you with your issues.

We are constantly working on backporting bug fixes and new features into our long-term support releases. We also do everything we can to ensure that upgrades go smoothly and do not break anything. And, of course, the image-based upgrade system allows users to easily revert to an old image within minutes if serious problems occur.

However, some users postpone upgrades for as long as possible. We understand the motivation behind that because we certainly had bad experiences with products that shipped disastrous upgrades that were difficult to revert — which is why we work hard to ensure that VyOS upgrades are simple, reliable, and reversible. Still, such an approach can make troubleshooting more difficult for the users and our support team.  For example, someone may run into an unhandled edge case that was undiscovered at the time of a release many months ago but was fixed in a newer version where the affected code was rewritten or improved.

Of course, we cannot just require people to upgrade to the latest version before they can create any support tickets — that would be very inconsiderate. We understand that many companies have testing, validation, and planning procedures that take time to execute, and they cannot just upgrade on a whim. There needs to be a compromise.

We believe that the three latest versions is a good compromise. Many projects follow the same approach; for VyOS, the three latest minor versions usually mean at least six months, usually longer. If the version you are running is within three latest releases, all testing and replication is on us (if we find that your problem is a known bug that was fixed in a newer release, we will suggest an upgrade as a solution, of course). If your version is older, we will ask you to upgrade to a version in the supported range (ideally, the latest one).

Regarding concurrent LTS branches, our idea is that we will only support two LTS releases at the same time: when VyOS 1.4.0/Sagitta is out, VyOS 1.3.x/Equuleus will remain supported until we make VyOS 1.5.0, and then all support for VyOS 1.3.x will end (unless there's enough demand for extended LTS).

Please keep your system current, and don't hesitate to contact our support team!