How stable is the alpha version, and when will it be out of Alpha?

I’m wanting to recreate an existing FreePBX installation, currently running Elastix and Asterisk 1.8, on a new server. I see there are different versions of the FreePBX Distro available, marked “stable” and “alpha”.

If I choose the Alpha software and FreePBX/Asterisk version 12, will it be upgradeable to the stable version when that comes out, or would I have to completely reinstall? Is the Alpha software stable enough for general use, or are there still a lot of bugs? And, is there any timeline on when this version might come out of Alpha?

All my connections will be SIP-only with maybe one IAX trunk. There will be no PSTN connections or anything like that. Any opinion on whether I be relatively safe in running the Alpha software on a low-volume system, or should I stick with the Stable version for now?

I would stay with stable as Alpha is just still a work in progress. If it was beta I would say go for it.

Thanks. Do you have any idea how long it will be before it’s out of beta, or is that anyone’s guess?

I meant out of alpha, obviously. Sorry.

We are shooting for April but I doubt that. Probably May

If it’s only going to be a couple of months I might want to wait and start out with FreePBX 12, so that I don’t have to do this again for a few more years. I’m assuming that if you start out with a beta version it is upgradeable to the release version when that is ready, correct?

Like all versions of FreePBX and the Distro their will be upgrades from the current stable to the next version.

Thanks, but that’s not exactly what I asked. I apologize if my question was not clear, but what I want to know is, once the beta of FreePBX 12 is released, if I install that, will it be upgradeable to the stable version of FreePBX 12?

If that’s not the case, then I would infer from what you said that I should just install the current stable, and when the next stable version arrives it will be upgradeable.

That is the case.

You can move from alpha -> beta -> stable, we won’t lock you.

Since it’s now May, do you have a better idea of how likely it is to go into beta sometime this month? Not trying to be pushy, just try to decide if I should go with the current stable version or be a little more patient. Thanks.