From a1fd185dd1be692b94db10b3ec0621ae3a2f275c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Stian Thorgersen Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2024 09:42:53 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] Minor release blog post (#484) * Minor release blog post Signed-off-by: stianst * Update blog/2024/release-updates.adoc Co-authored-by: Alexander Schwartz Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen * Update blog/2024/release-updates.adoc Co-authored-by: Alexander Schwartz Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen * Update blog/2024/release-updates.adoc Co-authored-by: Alexander Schwartz Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen * Update blog/2024/release-updates.adoc Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen * Update blog/2024/release-updates.adoc Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen --------- Signed-off-by: stianst Signed-off-by: Stian Thorgersen Co-authored-by: Alexander Schwartz --- blog/2024/release-updates.adoc | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+) create mode 100644 blog/2024/release-updates.adoc diff --git a/blog/2024/release-updates.adoc b/blog/2024/release-updates.adoc new file mode 100644 index 00000000..217d8998 --- /dev/null +++ b/blog/2024/release-updates.adoc @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +:title: Backwards compatibility in Keycloak releases +:date: 2024-10-08 +:publish: true +:author: Stian Thorgersen + +With four major releases of Keycloak every year it can be a daunting task to keep deployments up to date. Especially, +since https://www.keycloak.org/docs/latest/upgrading/index.html#migration-changes[the number of breaking changes have drastically increased the last couple years]. +Combine this with the importance of patching deployments quickly for vulnerabilities, this can leave many deployments +open to known vulnerabilities as the time and effort required to update to https://github.com/keycloak/keycloak/security/policy[the latest release] is too costly. + +Additionally, currently Keycloak client libraries are released together with the server, resulting in new major versions +of a client library, where in fact there can be no changes at all, or perhaps only a bug fix or two. + +For these reasons, after Keycloak 26.0 is released there will be some changes to how Keycloak is being released: + +* Keycloak server will have 4 minor releases every year, and a major release every 2-3 years +* Keycloak client libraries will be released separately. The latest client library release will support all currently supported Keycloak server releases + +We will continue to bring new features and enhancements to Keycloak in each release, and we are committed to doing so +in a backwards compatible way, making it seamless and easy to upgrade. + +When a minor comes with breaking changes, such changes will be opt-in. This will be driven through versioning +where the currently default version for a Feature or an API can not change in a minor release, and there will be a new +version that can be explicitly enabled. The current version of a Feature or API can be deprecated in a minor, but will +not be removed until the next major version. This will allow you to gradually roll-out new Feature or API versions separately +from upgrading. You can choose to get ready for the next major release early, or wait and do it in one +go. + +Backwards compatibility guarantees will only be given to Features and APIs that are fully supported. Preview features or preview APIs, +as well as non-public APIs may change at any time. \ No newline at end of file