Release Cadence

This release and support strategy is applicable starting with the major version, FintechOS 24 when the naming and versioning changes apply to this new strategy.

NOTE Find the release cadence for version v22 on this page.

The following release and support policy covers the entire FintechOS Platform, including all of its components as defined in the documentation.

Major Releases

FintechOS releases one new major version of the FintechOS Platform per year, scheduled every autumn. This release is comprised of the following changes that can be applicable to all platform components:

New features and/or new components that are fully complementary to existing ones
Reworked features that are fully and transparently backwards compatible with previous versions of the platform
Breaking changes that require some special actions during upgrade (an upgrade path is always provided from any previous version)
Technology, architecture, and infrastructure changes
Removing old, previous declared deprecated features
Fixed bugs
Fixed vulnerability issues

Upgrade to a New Major Version

A new major version of the product supersedes the previous major one released the year before. The upgrade consists of replacing the product with the newer latest version. Because of this, the changes can require special actions such as code refactoring, migration of removed functionalities to the new version, new configurations, data migration, changes to deployment architecture, etc. An upgrade path from any previous version will always be provided.

Considering that an upgrade to a new version is similar to adoption of a new product, this activity must be planned ahead of time, before the major version in use reaches its end of support.

Breaking Changes Policy

A major release can bring breaking changes.

Breaking changes are changes in a product component that can cause a failure or disruption to other components unless adjustments such as external configurations, code refactoring, data migrations, or other, are made to accommodate these changes.

Breaking changes in new major versions are to be avoided for several reasons, however they can’t always be excluded, as they can be caused by product structural changes, technology changes, replacing old functionalities with new ones. These breaking changes will be announced in release notes in the official documentation, together with procedures and/or tools for mitigating their impact.

Minor Releases

The FintechOS Platform has 3 types of minor releases – Minor, Update Packs, and Hotfixes. Any minor release is an incremental release, meaning that any new minor releases contain changes to the product, together with all changes introduced in previous minor releases for the same major version. These address all components of the FintechOS Platform.

Updates to Minor Releases

A minor release contains only enhancements, fixes, and patches to the current version, it only tweaks and improves the way the platform operates, but it doesn’t fundamentally alter it. An update refers to the process of updating the platform from a minor release to a newer minor release of the same major version, e.g. from 24.1.2 to 24.3.0. An update represents a maintenance activity and must be scheduled on a regular basis to maintain platform security, get fixes for functional bugs and performance issues, as well as improved functionality.

An update must not require regression testing of the existent system (just running the smoke tests) as it should provide only security fixes, bug fixing, enhancements of the existing features or new features that can function side by side with the existent ones.

Breaking Changes Policies

An update should be predictable, meaning a minor release will not contain breaking changes that break already existing functionalities.

Even if a fix or new feature requires some changes to be done, a feature flag must be provided to activate the new way of functioning.

Minor Versions

Minor versions are usually released quarterly and can bring:

Reworked features (big and small enhancements) that are fully and transparently backwards compatible with existing features
New features and new components that are fully complementary to existing ones.
Fixed bugs
Fixed vulnerability issues

Update Packs

Update Packs are usually monthly releases and can bring:

Reworked features (small enhancements) that are fully and transparently backwards compatible with existing features.
Fixed bugs
Fixed vulnerability issues

Update Packs are the main type of releases used for providing support for a major version. These can be released at any point during the major version support timeline. However, towards the end of support the monthly cadence of update packs might slow down depending on the need.

Hotfixes

Hotfixes are out-of-band releases and are provided only if needed between two update pack releases in order to address urgent critical bugs or vulnerability issues.

Hotfixes are released only for the last minor release of a major version (minor version, update pack or hotfix). Also, all fixes included in a hotfix will be automatically included in the next minor release.

Naming and Versioning

The FintechOS Platform release naming and versioning scheme is the Major version number/Minor/Update Pack/Hotfix Number:

[Major].[Minor].[UpdatePack].[Hot Fix]

For example: for FintechOS 24 Minor Version 2 Update Pack 1 Hotfix 1 the official release name and version is 24.2.1.1.

Major Versions

Major versions are named with the number of the next year. For example, the 2023 release name is FintechOS 24. The first release of a Major version has incremented only the major version number, while the rest of the minor number is zero. For example, the following major version has the official name FintechOS 24, while the platform version is FintechOS 24.0.0.

Minor Versions

These types of releases are named incrementally with a number e.g.: 1, 2, 3, and usually bring important improvements. That’s why these types of minor versions are released for a major version until the next version is released. For example, FintechOS 24.3 will be released before FintechOS Platform 25 is out.

Update Packs

Update Packs numbering is incremental and are restarted after each new minor release: FintechOS 24.1.1 , FintechOS 24.1 2, FintechOS 24.2.1, FintechOS 24.2.2, etc.

Hotfixes

These are incrementally numbered restarted after each Update Pack: FintechOS 24.2.0.1, FintechOS 24.2.1.2, FintechOS 24.2.2.X, etc.

Support Plan

The FintechOS Platform offers support for a major version for 24 months since its release.

This means that incremental minor releases for big fixes and vulnerability issues are provided for at least 24 months starting with the first release of a major version. Support is offered for all FintechOS Platform components.

Platform support (bugs and vulnerability fixes) is provided via minor incremental releases for a major version (minor, update packs, and hotfixes).

The update to the last release of a major version represents a maintenance activity and must be scheduled on a regular basis to maintain platform security, get fixes for functional bugs and performance issues, as well as improved functionality.

New functionalities, improvements, and defect fixes are offered for the latest major version, while the previous active major version (within 24 months) is only subject to defect and vulnerability fixes.

Version	Initial Launch Date	Out of Support Date
FintechOS 24 (starting with 24.0.0)	November 29th, 2023	November 2025
FintechOS 22 (starting with R2)	May 6th, 2022	November 2024
FintechOS 22.W (last on premise)	October 2021	October 2023
FintechOS 21	October 2020	November 2022

For example, FintechOS 22 (starting with R2) will continue to receive support until November 2024.

FintechOS 22 Winter is the last release that can be deployed on premises and was supported until October 2023 (first release was in October 2021).

FintechOS 21 (first release in October 2020) is out of support starting with November 2022.

NOTE Check out this page to see the list of out of support versions.