Maintenance and release schedule
Overview
Nextcloud releases multiple major versions throughout the year, but maintains support for each major version for one full year each through "lighter" maintenance updates (and regularly backporting applicable security and bug fixes). This permits a high velocity development cadence, while still giving administrators flexibility when planning deployments, upgrades, and maintenance activities.
A detailed schedule for upcoming major and maintenance releases (as well as end-of-life projections) is regularly updated to facilitate planning deployment, testing, and upgrade planning.
Whether you want the latest features and optimizations, want to help with testing, or just want to wait until everything is perfectly ready to go, you've got options with regards to which version of Nextcloud Server to initially deploy as well as how frequently to do major upgrades.
Release types
Nextcloud has two types of releases in the default release channel:
Major releases
Maintenance releases
Major releases of Nextcloud Server (e.g. 28.X.X) introduce new features and functionality.
Every major release is, in turn, supported for one year via periodic maintenance releases (e.g. X.X.4), which correct critical bugs and security vulnerabilities.
Major releases
Major releases usually introduce new features and often also include changes "under the hood". These changes may be extensive.
A specific major release is indicated by the first part of the version string. For example, Nextcloud Server 28.0.4 is major release 28. And 27.1.7 is major release 27.
Maintenance releases
Maintenance releases deliberately do not introduce new features or breaking changes. This is meant to reduce the risks and impact associated with deploying updates so that critical bugs or security vulnerabilities can be rapidly and routinely addressed.
Maintenance releases are published (generally simultaneously) for all stable major releases that have not reached end-of-life status.
These releases should not have app compatibility concerns or introduce changes requiring retraining end users.
A specific maintenance release is indicated by the last part of the version number. For example, 28.0.4 is the fourth maintenance release for major version 28 of Nextcloud Server. It offers fixes for any critical bugs and security vulnerabilities addressed since the last maintenance release (28.0.3 in this example).
Release schedule
New major releases of Nextcloud Server are published approximately every sixteen weeks.
New maintenance releases are published approximately every four weeks.
Length of support ("maintenance")
Our release schedule means that several major releases (e.g. 26.X.X, 27.X.X, 28.X.X) are supported simultaneously. Whenever a critical bug or vulnerability is addressed, if it impacts more than one major release, it is backported to all applicable major releases and published in the next maintenance release (e.g. 28.0.3 -> 28.0.4). Any major release that has not reached end-of-life status receives these maintenance updates.
This overlapping schedule and predictable cadence permits rapid development while giving administrators visibility, access to critical bug fixes, and flexibility as to how aggressively to upgrade to new majors.
End-of-life
End-of-life status means that support/maintenance ends. Maintenance releases cease for a major version on the one year anniversary of initial release. The major version then moves into end-of-life status and will not receive any further bug fixes or corrections for security vulnerabilities.
The end-of-life dates for all major releases are published ahead of time to ease planning.
Installation version
Since multiple major releases are published throughout the year and each is supported for a year with any relevant bug and security fixes, you have discretion as to which which major to deploy initially as well as when to upgrade to a new major.
Release channels
By default all Nextcloud installations utilize the stable release channel. This channel delivers the latest features that are ready for most users at minimal risk.
You can find the detailed schedule for all stable channel major releases and maintenance releases, including end-of-life dates, in our regularly updated Maintenance and Release Schedule.
Major version upgrades
Before upgrading from one one major release to another, we strongly recommend reviewing the Critical changes section of the Release Notes chapter to minimize the chance of introducing unexpected breaking changes in your environment.
Beta releases and Release candidates
Before a new final major release is published, typically at least four beta releases are published followed by two release candidates, with an interval of one week between each.
Before a new final maintenance release is published, one release candidate is published approximately one week beforehand.
Anticipated dates for each release can be found on detailed schedule.
Everyone in the community benefits considerably from the generous testing and feedback of those that choose to evaluate beta releases or release candidates in either their test environments or, for the bold, under real-world conditions.
If you are in a position to evaluate a pre-final release, the developers and the entire community thank you!
Downgrading
Downgrading is not supported officially between any major, maintenance, or pre-release version.
Bug reporting
Before reporting bugs, please make sure you're running a still supported major release and the latest maintenance release for it.