Versioning, stable and prereleased

[oelk]

Hello,
which is the right stable version?
LibreOffice is available in the following released versions:
25.2.0
24.8.4
LibreOffice is available in the following prerelease versions:
25.2.1
24.8.5

So, what now?
Two versions that are considered stable or pre-released?

‘The tire nuts aren’t tightened yet, but you can drive the car.’
‘And the other one is still missing the tires and the paint isn’t dry yet, but it drives pretty well.’
Pretty unprofessional.

You should decide on the version numbers, for example:
Stable 24.8.x
Prereleased 25.2.x
And communicate this on all websites.

This becomes quite confusing and off-putting for end users.

I’m losing a lot of trust in LibreOffice.

Best regards

[mikekaganski]

@oelk

Pretty unprofessional.

You should decide

Really? Thank you, finally someone let us know what we should do.
Use your reading skills, and decide which to use. Or don’t use, if you can’t. Both are OK.

Note that my answer simply matches your impolite question. I would answer differently to a neutral question.

[EarnestAl]

The pre release versions should not be used for important work, obviously.

You can read the release notes for both download versions, Release Notes - The Document Foundation Wiki

As a rule of thumb, a release with 0 for third position might not be suitable for important work, unless it contains an enhancement that you can’t live without.

The older version won’t have any new enhancements but will have some bug fixes.

You may look at the timeline for version releases and an explanation, ReleasePlan - The Document Foundation Wiki.

It is up to the user to decide, but if you are still unsure, go for the oldest version