Older Stable Version numbering question

[srice777]

I have used LO for a long time. I have always enjoyed LO. I’m working on a MacMini with m2 chip. Recently LO started telling me to update, I always run the ‘older more stable’ version as I simply don’t like dealing with the developmental bugs. The current older version is 7.6.7, and constantly tells me to update. I noticed the version numbering is upgrading to the new 24.2.4 type model. Will other older version numbering eventually be that too? I upgraded to the 24.2.4 and it has crashed on me three times while trying to update some spreadsheets I have. I’m not interested in troubleshooting that, as I plan on downgrading back to the 7.6.7 version for it’s stability. I’m more interested in the version numbering and the older version, will it get the new numbering system at some point? Is the older system going stay maintained? Thanks for reading and answering.

Shane

[RobertG]

Last version of 7.6 is 7.6.7.
See: ReleasePlan - The Document Foundation Wiki
Numbering has been changed. So everybody could see: Version has been released in 2024 and in second month of the year: 24.2
Next release will be 24.8

[srice777]

Thank you for the helping us understand the new numbering. I thought it was something like that, but I appreciate the clarity.

As for 7.6.7 according to this: ReleasePlan - The Document Foundation Wiki 7.6.7 ended on June 12, 2024…

So the only actively supported version is 24.2, yet the 7.6 version is still offered for download on LO download page. I’m really confused by that. 7.6 runs rock solid on my system (even though it reached EOL), and 24.2 is buggy at best on my system. So I’m trying to understand, what is the older more tested stable version I should be using?

[mikekaganski]

Nothing changed, and continues to be the same, except the numbers. E.g., when we had 7.4 → 7.5 transition, and v.7.4.7 was released in May 2022, it was immediately EOLed (meaning “we don’t track its further state; we don’t prepare and release new micro versions for it”); at that time, 7.5 was at .4 micro version; and 7.6.0 wasn’t released yet.

The logic is: at .4 (and of course later) micro-release, we consider the newer version stable enough. It doesn’t mean, that we guarantee anything: if we thought that there are no more bugs left, then why would be releases .5, .6, .7? We know that even after that, there are bugs. The .4 micro version is reasonably stable, meaning for large enough portion of the userbase.

As always, if the newer version doesn’t work for you, you are welcome to stay with the older version as long as you need. All installers are always available, even for release 3.3.0. So why not stay with 7.6 for another year or decade?

But you need to understand, that unless you report your problem to the bug tracker, you may well be in a situation, that your problem doesn’t get known to developers, and doesn’t get fixed.

[srice777]

Thank you!

So essentially, 24.2.3.2 is the same as 7.6.7 if I’m reading the charts correctly (very similar release dates).

[mikekaganski]

@srice777

24.2.3.2 is the same as 7.6.7

Of course not.
7.6 was forked in the spring of the last year; and since then, the only thing that happened to 7.6 was bugfixes. And all the new code went to what became 24.2. Thus, 24.2.3 includes not only everything that is in 7.6.7, but also a lot of new code, not existing in 7.6.7; and that code indeed makes it work differently. Wht would we release 24.2.3, if it were the same as 7.6.7?

[ajlittoz]

7.6.x are the last versions with the old numbering scheme. Now, numbering is base on year and month of projected release. First number is year, e.g. 24; second number is “target” month. Only two releases are intended, in February and August, thus 2 or 8. Next numbers are feature and bug release sequence.

Release number for older releases will not change. They are maintained during their life cycle. TDF publishes the EOL (end of life) calendar regularly.

[srice777]

I moved it to a comment, I didn’t realize I clicked “Suggest a solution”.