Product Support Policy
Last updated: 2021-9-14
This document applies for Azure RTOS components in https://github.com/azure-rtos including ThreadX, NetX & NetX Duo, FileX, GUIX, USBX and LevelX.
Azure RTOS releases generally follow the guidelines defined by Semantic Versioning. Given an Azure RTOS version number X.Y.Z (e.g. 6.1.7):
- X increases for a milestone release. Currently Azure RTOS components stay at version 6.
- Y increases for a feature release when there is a major feature (e.g. v6.1.0 introduced Azure RTOS IoT Middleware) added.
- Z increases for a bi-monthly regular updates or patch for critical bug fixes.
Azure RTOS provides 60 months support for each milestone release (e.g. v6.x.x) and 24 months for each feature release (e.g. v6.1.x). Azure RTOS version 6 and all newer releases will follow this support policy.
For 24 months feature release support period, it breaks down into Service and Maintenance periods, with these differences:
| Period | Duration | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Service | 12 months | New features and regular bug fixes |
| Maintenance | 12 months | Critical and security bug fixes |
The actual duration of each feature release may varies depending on the actual development plan. Here is the support period for the recent feature release versions:
Users are recommended starting a new project using release in "Service" period.
Users are encouraged to upgrade all projects to a newer Azure RTOS release before the support period finishes.
For particular cases users cannot upgrade the projects, security / critical bug fixes can be applied to it with communication with Microsoft.
Pre-release version (public preview, pre-release and etc.,) or feature marked as "Preview" are not covered by any support period.
For prior releases to v6. The support is covered by ExpressLogic support contract.