What does LTS mean to SonarQube?

I could not find a definition.
In other software I have used, it means that bug fixes are backported, but no new features are supplied.

I’d like to be able to weigh my options when balancing disruption caused by new features/behaviors vs having bugs fixed.

Thanks!
Dan

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I found https://blog.sonarsource.com/walking-the-tightrope-balancing-agility-and-stability/ referenced in a post in the google group. Is this still more or less valid? How is it decided what bugs will be backported?

(non-SonarSourcer here)

Dan,

In my experience, LTS (Long-Term Support) versions of SonarQube fit your description: critical bug-fixes are backported while no enhancements (features) are supplied.

In my organization, we stayed on the LTS for SonarQube 5.6.x instead of opting for the “Latest” version (6.x) because 6.x lacked some enterprise features we needed (support of the governance plugin) until the next LTS (6.7) was released. The guiding philosophy for our group responsible for maintaining ALM tools is usually to stay on the latest version, but we couldn’t give up those governance features.

When 7.0 (Latest) was released, we opted to upgrade since those enterprise features persisted (and our contacts at SonarSource ensured us that kind of feature removal was a one-off event we shouldn’t worry about). Our experience has been positive, and upgrades are much more painless since we aren’t introducing large amounts of changes to users once a year, but instead incremental changes (and awesome new features) every month or two. I have even more faith in running Latest since that’s what SonarCloud, SonarQube’s SaaS offering runs.

Colin

3 Likes

I recently noticed what I consider relatively impactful UI usability bugs, which were fixed in 7.2, and the other in 7.3 when it comes out. However I don’t relish doing that many updates. It pains me to wait for users to complain, but that is probably what I’ll do.

Hi,

This followup is a long time coming but worth it I think for new discoverers of the thread. We’ve added a new page on sonarqube.org that details SonarSource’s take on what an LTS is, and what it means for users - what gets backported, what doesn’t, and how long you have to wait between LTSs. For your reading pleasure:

https://www.sonarqube.org/downloads/lts/

 
Ann