Community edition - upgrade only Major Releases?

[vrms]

is it possible to upgrade only major releases of the Communitiy edition (similar to using ubuntu's LTS versions)
Practically I mean starting with 4.0 for example and then upgrade to 5.0 2 years later, or do you have to go through upgrades 4.1, 4.2 ... 4.7 every 3 months?

Of course you could just not update your system but I guess most people want to receive stability updates and bugfixes between Major Releases.

A comment in the release policy http://www.zentyal.org/zentyal-release-policy/ saying that: "...updates and bugfixes coming directly from Ubuntu repositories and latest Zentyal features will always be available for the latest Zentyal Community Edition" is a little foggy.

I think you could understand it as you will:

• receive bugfixes and updates from ubuntu, but you will
• not receive latest Zentyal features (which are coming with all the .1, .2 ... editions)

is that so?

[jbahillo]

Hello:

In order to upgrade you will need to pass through every "minor" release. You could stay in 4.0 until 5.0 is out, but then you decide to upgrade you will have to pass through  4.1, 4.2, 4.3, etc , in order to get to 5.0 (or use a clean install)

If you stay at the 4.0, while 4.1, 4.2 , etc is out, please keep in mind that:

1. You will receive ubuntu bugfixes, as long as ubuntu publishes them on their corresponding repo's
2. You will not get the Zentyal fixes/features present in those "minor" releases.
3. Any bug you report will not be supported, as long, as release policy states:

Zentyal can only maintain one (the latest) Community Edition at a time to keep the development of new features ongoing.

[vrms]

In order to upgrade you will need to pass through every "minor" release. You could stay in 4.0 until 5.0 is out, but then you decide to upgrade you will have to pass through  4.1, 4.2, 4.3, etc , in order to get to 5.0 (or use a clean install)

I think that might be inconvenient but probably manageable

If you stay at the 4.0, while 4.1, 4.2 , etc is out, please keep in mind that:

1. You will receive ubuntu bugfixes, as long as ubuntu publishes them on their corresponding repo's
2. You will not get the Zentyal fixes/features present in those "minor" releases.
3. Any bug you report will not be supported, as long, as release policy states:

Zentyal can only maintain one (the latest) Community Edition at a time to keep the development of new features ongoing.

thanks for the quick response. I am not concerned about ubuntu fixes (which will maintain the base Zentyal system and for example issues like the bash or ssh problems we have seen lately I suppose) LTS versions are supported for 5 years and this overlaps sufficiently with the release cycle of Zentyal Major.

Not sure what Zentyal fixes are necessary for. I imagine a Major is being released and let's say it has still some issues that need to be fixed. Let's furthermore say I am not interested in the newest features but focus on stability, so If I stay on a Major it will be fed with Zentyal fixes for 3 months. Would that be sufficient to come to a stable system?

[robb]

My experience with Zentyal 3.2 Community is that, because it is also the latest Commercial version, updates on modules come by from time to time t fix bugs.
New features that come with the newer Community versions are not available for Zentyal 3.2 Community. (in the commercial version they get implemented through 'service packs')
I still have 3 servers on Zentyal 3.2 and they are running smoothly and doing what they are intended for: be a SBS server running Gateway, File and Print services and Local Network services.

My choice would be to stick with the version that is also used by the commercial version and is running Ubuntu LTS. Since Zentyal 4.0 will have no SBS functionality, I doubt I will switch to that any time soon. As things are now, Zentyal 3.2 will be the last version of Zentyal I will use, untill Ubuntu 12.04 gets unsupported.

Untill last week I even had a Zentyal 2.2 server running without any issues. As long security is maintained through Ubuntu security updates, I don' t worry too much about that. An online test now and then to see if security standards are met is good enough for me. Now I switched that server to ISPConfig3 with SOGo webmail since I don' t need Samba4/AD on that server.

[vrms]

thanks for the insight robb

Since Zentyal 4.0 will have no SBS functionality, I doubt I will switch to that any time soon. As things are now, Zentyal 3.2 will be the last version of Zentyal I will use, untill Ubuntu 12.04 gets unsupported

I am not very firm with the terminology yet. I guess with SBS you mean "...an integrated server suite from Microsoft designed for running network infrastructure (both intranet management and Internet access) of small and midsize businesses having no more than 25 users or 50 devices."

In my case I am trying to simplify maintenance of a samba server (currently debian 7) and maybe utilize other Zentyal services over time if we find them fit for our office with 10-20 clients.

out of curiosity, do you have an alternative in sight for the time after Zentyal 3.2 end of life already?

Based on the comments I got so far here it seems a "Community Major release" tactics might be a good way to start. Maybe we'll get more comments here still that will support or contradict this "working theory"

[robb]

Zentyal currently is undergoing a HUGE revamp from SBS server (all-in-one box) to Active Directory/Exchange replacement.
This means a lot of features that were available in previous versions will not be available in Zentyal 4.0 and further.
From a business point of view this is an understandable path, but from many oldschool users, Zentyal is not offering the options it used to and can' t fulfill the needs it once was chosen for.

Alternatives? I don' t think it is right to discuss this in these forums. If you want to discuss this with me, feel free to visit IRC (khildin on freenode.net servers) or mail me privately.

[Escorpiom]

For me it means that the Squid module, released with Zentyal 3.5 and already broken upon release, will not be fixed when Zentyal 4.0 comes out in less than three weeks.

Cheers. 

[vrms]

Alternatives? I don' t think it is right to discuss this in these forums. If you want to discuss this with me, feel free to visit IRC (khildin on freenode.net servers) or mail me privately.

sent you  a private message. feel free to respond. thanks