Insight into the Cascade Server Release Schedule
Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 1:00pm -- Chris Armistead
As Client Advocate at Hannon Hill, I frequently get asked questions regarding the Cascade Server release schedule. For the past year, we have had feature releases once a quarter with bug fix releases in between. With the release of Cascade Server 6.0, we added some improvements to our processes, and many of these changes will continue to be a part of our standard development cycle and release process moving forward.
Perhaps the biggest change for us was the release of a public beta for Cascade Server 6.0. The beta was available for download on our Cascade Server Success Community, where we also created an idea exchange for feedback. Due to the significant volume of downloads and valuable feedback received, a beta will now be made available prior to each new feature release.
Speaking of feature releases, in the past there has been some confusion over our numbering conventions for Cascade Server releases. Customers would at times tell me how it was difficult to tell the difference between a feature release and a patch release. For this reason, we recently adopted a simpler numbering convention so that our customers can more easily follow our releases:
- A change in major version number marks the start of a Cascade Server "series" and a major change in functionality or technology - Our latest major release was from 5.x to 6.x which is indicative of a major functionality addition in Cascade. As an example, with the 5.x to 6.x transition, we introduced Sites, a new administrative feature offering an entirely new way of organizing content in the system.
- Feature releases will be denoted by even-numbered minor point versions - Our latest major feature release was 6.0 and our next one will be 6.2. After that would be 6.4, 6.6, 6.8 and finally a new series with the release of 7.0.
- Any release with a minor minor version number (i.e. 6.x.x) denotes a patch release - which consists of bug fixes and minor improvements made upon a previous feature release. For example, 6.0.2 is a patch release that contains the same features as 6.0, but adds bug fixes or minor improvements to those features.
The final big change in our release process concerns the idea of quarterly releases. As many of you noticed, we took nearly twice the amount of time between Cascade 5.7 and 6.0 as we had for many of the previous releases. The feedback on this increased amount of time between releases has been overwhelmingly positive, and we plan to continue this process moving forward. In the future, our development team will focus on increased QA and testing (including user beta testing), rather than a rigid quarterly timeline. This testing has to lead to stronger software releases, while still allowing us to put out three or four feature releases per year.
We are very excited about the improvements to our development processes and release cycle, and their ability to help us increase the depth and quality of our releases in the 6-series and beyond. Be on the lookout for the Cascade Server 6.2 Beta in the very near future!
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