SonarQube upgradation from 9.9 to latest release ( 25.7) release cycle model version

SonarQube Server / Community Build
1

I am planning to upgrade our SonarQube server from version 9.9 (LTA) to the latest available version (25.7). According to the SonarQube release cycle, a new version is released every two months, with a Long-Term Active (LTA) version released annually. The documentation suggests that it is possible to upgrade directly from an LTA version (such as 9.9) to the next LTA version (e.g., 2025.1).

However, when attempting to upgrade directly from 9.9 to 25.7, I encountered the following error in the web.log file:

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name ‘jdk.internal.loader.ClassLoaders$AppClassLoader@659e0bfd-org.sonar.server.platform.DatabaseServerCompatibility’: The version of SonarQube you are trying to upgrade from is too old. Please upgrade to the 24.12 version first.

Based on this error, it appears that a direct upgrade from 9.9 to 25.7 is not supported, and an intermediate upgrade to version 24.12 is required to ensure database compatibility.

Could you please confirm whether the recommended upgrade path is:

  • Upgrade from 9.9 to 24.12 first, and then from 24.12 to 25.7, or
  • If there is a supported way to upgrade directly from 9.9 to 25.7?

Thank you for your guidance.

2

Hi,

Crucial detail first: Are you on the Community Build or a commercial edition (Developer / Enterprise / Data Center)?
They have different release schedules and upgrade requirements.

For Community Build:

  • Switched to calendar versioning in Dec 2024, there are no more LTA releases for Community.
  • New versions are released monthly, named as <short year>.<month> (e.g., 25.7).
  • Rule of thumb: If your source and target versions are in different calendar years, you must upgrade to the December (xx.12) build of the intervening year before moving to the next year’s version.

So, the upgrade path is:
9.9 → 24.12 → 25.7

For Commercial editions:

  • Version format is <full year>.<release number> (e.g., 2025.3).
  • LTA semantics are kept, and the docs allow a direct LTA-to-LTA upgrade.
  • Once you’re on the current LTA for the year, you can jump to the latest non-LTA release within that year.

So, the upgrade path is:
9.9 LTA → 2025.1.x LTA → 2025.3.x (latest, non-LTA)