Understanding Releases and Notes

Our release notes contain detailed information about each release, including:

  • Improvements — new features and functionality added or updated in the product

  • Bug Fixes — bug fixes addressing previous functionality

  • UI Changes — changes to the user interface

  • API Changes — changes to the APIs (e.g. GraphQL) that may alter integrations

  • Configuration Changes — differences in the configurable settings

  • Upgrade Compatibility — basic release compatibility and advice for upgrades

Generally Available (GA) & Long Term Support (LTS) Releases

LogScale provides two separate releases:

  • Generally Available (GA) releases — includes new functionality. Using a GA release gets you access to the latest features and functionality.

    GA releases are deployed in LogScale SaaS environments.

  • Long Term Support (LTS) releases — contains the latest features and functionality.

    LogScale on-premise customers are advised to install the LTS releases. LTS releases are provided approximately every six weeks.

    Security fixes are applied to the last three LTS releases.

  • Internal or Not Released releases — are not released to customers, but included in the list to keep clarity for the version numbers.

LogScale SaaS/LogScale Cloud customers are upgraded on a staggered release schedule, with individual clusters being upgraded up to twice each month, using the corresponding latest GA release at the time of the upgrade.

Version Numbering

We follow a version numbering convention that is similar to that recommended by Semantic Versioning. Basically, we use the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH numbering format, which is defined as follows:

  • MAJOR: When there are major changes to the software, including high-profile ones, we'll change the value of this number, the primary number (e.g. the version will change from 1.x.x to 2.x.x).

  • MINOR: When we've added some new features or new functionality to LogScale software, we'll issue a new release and the secondary number will be changed (e.g., 1.16 to 1.18). Unlike Semantic Versioning, though, we allow backwards incompatible changes (e.g., changing compression algorithms).

  • PATCH: When a patch is added, the tertiary or third number will be increased (e.g., 1.18 to 1.18.1). Only backwards-compatible security or bug fixes are made with these. No new features or other code changes are permitted. This is important, as it means that each patch release should be more stable than the last.

Deprecation, Removal, and Breaking Changes

On occasion, changes to LogScale may need to be made that remove features or that are are considered Breaking Changes. These indicate significant changes to the operation of LogScale that are required to support new functionality or behavior or to ensure the security or reliability of LogScale. These include:

  • Changes to the current behaviour of a feature. For example, changing the way a function operates

  • Changes to the errors, responses or reactions to certain functions. For example, raising an error in place or a warning

  • Changing the format or compatibility of a file or file format

  • Removal of a feature or function

When an item that fits these criteria has been identified:

  • If the item is a deprecation (i.e. planned removal of functionality) then an item will be added to the release notes identifying the deprecation.

  • If the item is a breaking change, a Pre Warning entry will be added to the release notes, indicating the feature or functionality will be altered.

  • These deprecating or pre-warnings will be repeated in each release note version until the item has been changed or removed.

  • The corresponding documentation page will be updated with a deprecation or pre-warning message to highlight the upcoming change.

  • There will be a delay of at least 12 weeks between notification of the upcoming change and it being applied.

  • Once the item has been removed, a Removal release note entry will be provided indicating the removal, impact, and alternatives (if available).

Release Summary, Support, and Upgrade Requirements

When reviewing the release notes, a section at the top of each release notes sections provides basic information about the release and upgrade compatibility. For example:

Version?Type?Release Date?Availability?End of Support

Security

Updates?

Upgrades

From?

Config.

Changes?
1.129.0GA2024-03-12

Cloud

2025-04-30No1.106No

  • Version

    The full version number for this release.

  • Type

    The release type, either LTS or GA.

  • Release Date

    The date when this version was released.

  • Availability

    Where the version will be available:

    • Cloud — available to our cloud customers

    • On-Prem — available to our On-Prem and cloud customers

  • End of Support

    The date when LogScale Support will no longer support this version.

    Due to the release structure, this may show Next LTS Version which indicates that support will exist until the next full LTS release type is made available.

  • Security Updates

    Indicates whether the release will continue to get security updates.

  • Upgrades From

    The minimum version of LogScale required to upgrade to this version. Upgrades from earlier versions may not succeed and are not recommended.

    Important

    For some releases, once upgraded to a the minimum upgrade release, it may not be possible to downgrade to a previous version. This will be shown in the corresponding release version when relevant.

  • Minimim JDK Version

    The compatible JDK version required to upgrade to this version.

  • Config. Changes

    Indicates whether there are configuration changes within the release that should be checked and updated during the upgrade process to ensure that they meet your requirements.

Built-in Release Information

To determine the version of LogScale you are using and view information on the latest releases available from the LogScale user interface:

  1. Click the caption icon at the top of the screen: the Releases panel shows the full list of releases, with the most recent on top.

  2. Click any release link for all detailed information on that release.

Built-in Release Information

Figure 1. Built-in Release Information


Validating Release Checksums

The release notes include the checksum for release packages and Docker images. You can verify the checksum for a package on the command-line.

To check an MD5 hash use the md5 tool:

shell
$ md5 server-1.82.0.tar
MD5 (server-1.82.0.jar) = 4b4b4411d930d00275bc3a412c0c5c50

To check an SHA hash, use the shasum command:

shell
$ shasum server-1.82.0.tar
ca22652ca303a162f81711f43977e14e528f6e85  server-1.82.0.tar
shell

To check an SHA256 hash, use the shasum command:

shell
$ shasum -a 256 server-1.82.0.tar
908a907b5c1ffbdce667b932daea0aab46a8ece4e164072f5bae0eb77d3bdd6f  server-1.82.0.tar

To check an SHA512 hash, use the shasum command:

shell
$ shasum -a 512 server-1.82.0.tar
bbc65ea8641ac3d9910da4a9dcda0c1817d2a8acc2e81491a389d2671af7e57c12f019ad71af7309d4ad68b67997a6cbd3b0fba3a2048f07b7c7567abd05b8ae  server-1.82.0.tar

If the checksums do not match the quoted values, you should obtain a new version of the package.

Organization and Grouping

Release note entries are automatically structured according to their type (bug, feature, etc.) and their individual class (grouping), automatically sorted according to the priority of the entries, and marked up where appropriate to highlight entries that are more important or significant than others.

The two different groups are nested; first grouped by the issue type and then by class. For example, all bugs are listed together, and then groups of bugs related to the UI, or API, are grouped together.

The following types of release note, and their markup, are provided below:

  • Breaking Changes

    • Release note entry

  • Advance Warning

    • Release note entry

  • Removed

    • Release note entry

  • Deprecation

    • Release note entry

  • Behavior Changes

    • Release note entry

  • Upgrades

    • Release note entry

  • New features and improvements

    • Release note entry

  • Fixed in this release

    • Release note entry

  • Known Issues

    • Release note entry

  • Early Access

    • Release note entry

  • Improvement

    • Release note entry

The following classes of release note entries are provided:

Security

  • Release note entry

Installation and Deployment

  • Release note entry

Administration and Management

  • Release note entry

Summary

  • Release note entry

Falcon Data Replicator

  • Release note entry

UI Changes

  • Release note entry

Documentation

  • Release note entry

Automation and Alerts

  • Release note entry

Storage

  • Release note entry

GraphQL API

  • Release note entry

API

  • Release note entry

Configuration

  • Release note entry

Ingestion

  • Release note entry

Dashboards and Widgets

  • Release note entry

Log Collector

  • Release note entry

Queries

  • Release note entry

Functions

  • Release note entry

Other

  • Release note entry

Packages

  • Release note entry