Is there a way to tell from the version number whether a particular legacy version of LibreOffice is for businesses vs. cutting edge users?

English
,
#1

I just began to use a program that keeps other programs on my PC up to date. I like to use the “business” version of LibreOffice because it has more extensive testing, but the updater program always wants to update my program to the most recent released version (which seems to always be the “cutting edge” version).

I’d like to submit a request to the authors of the updating program to modify their rules for LibreOffice updates so that if the CURRENTLY INSTALLED version of the software is the “more stable” version, they will offer the most recent “stable” version as an update choice. Ditto for those who currently have the “cutting edge” version installed.

In order to request this feature, I’m sure they are going to want to know how to determine (from the currently-installed version number) whether the currently-installed version is a “stable” or “cutting edge” release. So, does LibreOffice have some sort of “system” whereby you can tell from the version number alone whether a version is stable vs. cutting edge?

#2

Generally speaking, no. A version is “cutting edge” until there is no “more cutting edge”, and that means that usually version X.Y.5 becomes “more stable”. However, this is not guaranteed, and may change e.g. when and unplanned release appears, say, because of an urgent fix. Then X.Y.5 may not become “more stable”, and only X.Y.6 may become.

Possibly @cloph can correct me.

#3

Mike, you make an interesting point. So, let’s say there are currently three versions (7.0.6, 7.1.4 and 7.1.5) available for download. Version 7.1.5 is currently identified as “cutting edge” and 7.0.6 being the “business safe” version. My question is: will 7.1.5 ever be labeled the “business safe” version, or would the next business-safe version become 7.0.7 - or similar? And what about 7.1.4? It is listed on the website as being one of the current releases, but I don’t see it referenced anywhere on the page other than at the bottom where it is identified as one of the available downloads.

#4

will 7.1.5 ever be labeled the “business safe” version

No. It was released when there was no 7.2.x available, which would be the necessary “cutting edge” to call 7.1.5 “business safe”.

or would the next business-safe version become 7.0.7

There’s no more 7.0 releases planned - so in normal case there will be no 7.0.7, unless there appears a really strong reason.

or similar?

Release plan tells that 7.2.0 is expected to be released at ~Aug 22, and 7.1.6 is planned for ~Sept 12; so 7.1.6 is going to be the next “business safe”.

And what about 7.1.4?

It is not latest release in any branch, so it’s likely kept there on the download page just as a reference for people who somehow want the previous version - “business safe” and “cutting edge” are about latest releases in two corresponding active branches.

#5

Mike, thanks for the clarification on 7.1.4, and for providing the very helpful link to the Release Plan. It is the plan that has offered some interesting information. Numbering seems related more to release timeframe (calendar related) than to any other criteria (excluding the standard alpha, beta and rc suffixes). I find it interesting that the current “business safe” recommendation of 7.0.6 is shown on the plan as having already reached end-of-life nearly 2 months ago! Unfortunately, the wiki pages refer only to the release numbers and not to whether those numbers corresponded to a “business” or “cutting edge” designation, so it’s unlikely the makers of the PC Updater software will ever be able to automatically determine what the best version for upgrade should be.

It appears then that my question has no “best” answer, but as a new user on this forum, how do I go about upvoting your comments?

#6

I find it interesting that the current “business safe” recommendation of 7.0.6 is shown on the plan as having already reached end-of-life nearly 2 months ago!

It just means that its last release has already been released. From “support” point of view, TDF will not address more problems in this release - so it’s EOL. But OTOH, it was just released; it’s the most stable one, with longest testing period, most stable features, and most bugs fixed (and least new introduced compared to 7.1) - so is it strange that the release published yesterday, even if not expected to be followed by a next bugfix release in the same branch, is suggested to users as stable?

how do I go about upvoting your comments?

No need in comments. I will publish the summary as an answer, so that the question could be marked answered.

#7

I tried to upvote your answer, but I don’t have enough karma :frowning:

#8

Thanks, and the checking “accepted” mark is the most important thing, that you already have done - thanks again; it allows other users looking for a similar question to see that an answer had a satisfactory answer.

#11

Summary from comments to the question:

does LibreOffice have some sort of “system” whereby you can tell from the version number alone whether a version is stable vs. cutting edge?

Generally speaking, no. A version is “cutting edge” until there is no “more cutting edge”, and that means that usually version X.Y.5 becomes “more stable”. However, this is not guaranteed, and may change e.g. when and unplanned release appears, say, because of an urgent fix. Then X.Y.5 may not become “more stable”, and only X.Y.6 may become.

will 7.1.5 ever be labeled the “business safe” version

No. It was released when there was no 7.2.x available, which would be the necessary “cutting edge” to call 7.1.5 “business safe”.

or would the next business-safe version become 7.0.7

There’s no more 7.0 releases planned - so in normal case there will be no 7.0.7, unless there appears a really strong reason.

or similar?

Release plan tells that 7.2.0 is expected to be released at ~Aug 22, and 7.1.6 is planned for ~Sept 12; so 7.1.6 is going to be the next “business safe”.

And what about 7.1.4?

It is not latest release in any branch, so it’s likely kept there on the download page just as a reference for people who somehow want the previous version - “business safe” and “cutting edge” are about latest releases in two corresponding active branches.

I find it interesting that the current “business safe” recommendation of 7.0.6 is shown on the plan as having already reached end-of-life nearly 2 months ago!

It just means that its last release has already been released. From “support” point of view, TDF will not address more problems in this release - so it’s EOL right upon the last release. But OTOH, it was just released; it’s the most stable one, with longest testing period, most stable features, and most bugs fixed (and least new introduced compared to 7.1) - so is it strange that the release published “yesterday”, even if not expected to be followed by a next bugfix release in the same branch, is suggested to users as stable?

#9

Go to Download LibreOffice | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft the cutting edge currently is 7.1.5

#10

Thanks for chiming in, Jedimaster. Unfortunately, what I’m trying to determine is whether you can tell from an OLD version number (legacy version) whether that version was a “business safe” version, or whether it was a “cutting edge” version. I know how/where to find the CURRENT versions of business and cutting edge. I was hoping that LibreOffice had some sort of naming convention for its versions. For example, you can generally look at software at version 0.x.x and safely assume it is “beta” software. I’m hoping there is a way to determine (by looking at the version number) whether a release is “business” or “cutting edge”.

Impressum (Legal Info) | Datenschutzerklärung (Privacy Policy)   Content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 3.0 license.