For Asterisk we have:
https://wiki.asterisk.org/wiki/display/AST/Asterisk+Versions
I could not find similar timelines for FreePBX. If there’s nothing official pertaining to FreePBX supportedness, is there any unofficial guidance?
We don’t have a regular release schedule like asterisk, tho that is something we strive torward. On average a new major release happens about every 1.5 years, but that varies widely for some releases. We generally officially support the current stable and one stable version back.
An announcement on 13 and 14 is overdue and will happen soon.
Policies! Policies! Policies! You get a policy, you get a policy, EVERYONE GETS A POLICY!
(I like having policies, procedures, and details written down)
Here’s some rough timelines. I’m not sure the 1.5 years is correct based on this, it’s more like 2 years since the release of 13 with the shortest time in between major stable releases being 22 months instead of 24.
FreePBX 13 Stable - 01-16-2016
FreePBX 14 Stable - 10-25-2017
FreePBX 15 Stable - 10-31-2019
FreePBX 16 Stable - 10-31-2021
I am in the camp that if each module update released is released with a v14, v15 and v16 version than Sangoma is officially supporting the current and two release version back. I’ve noticed that slowly and very quietly modules have stopped getting v13 releases except for security fixes which would mean Sangoma considers v13 in a Security Fix Only status.
The real issue here is the lack of actual policy and documentation of it. Sad part is, based on all the missed timelines and a lot of open ended statements (we’ve been waiting for EOL and other announcements that have been “coming soon” for years) this seems more like a way to never be stuck in concrete on something. Both v14 and v15 had public roadmaps laid out in the wiki, it shows both those releases being over a year behind anything published in that roadmaps. The one answer I got in regards to this once was basically “dates don’t matter in roadmaps”.
And now for the last 2 plus years we do not even get a roadmap anymore. Yes dates are tough to meet but without a goal and public roadmap how does anyone beyond the 5 developers of Sangoma working on FreePBX have any input or insight into what’s being worked on and planned?
Side note the title says “distro” not “actual” freepbx. I am curious if this question is about moving to something newer than EL7 as that is technically the original thing Rob built like 8 years ago (plus updates). There has been side chatter about a derivative of Rocky Linux but nothing official has been said.
I guess I should not have written distro especially since I referenced the Asterisk support timeline wiki page (which has no concerns with the operating system layer).
From an Asterisk perspective we kind of have a concern[1] from a support perspective.
[1] Supported Platforms - Asterisk Project - Asterisk Project Wiki
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Thank you for correcting me and pointing this out.
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