End of Support Strategy

There are some questions that get asked about whether we still support a version, or how long we will support a version for.  There are some key points to remember that can help in your decision making and provide the answer you are looking for.

1. We support the current plus two previous releases.

• • At the time of writing 4.01 is the current release, the previous versions supported are 3.20 and 3.10.
  • Note: in this recent Genero Application Server issue what releases we provided a fix for.
  • Support for 3.00 was stopped when 4.01 was released.
  • Accordingly we will stop support for 3.10 when 4.10 or 5.00 is released.
  • When will 4.10 or 5.00 be released?, there is no finite date set in stone, keep an eye on the Product Roadmaps in the News page and announcements in the forums for long range estimates.  In the roadmaps, we express the year and quarter we think the earliest we might deliver the next major release.  Then when you see the Early Access Program there will be a closer estimate.
  • In general if there is a release every 18-30 months then you are looking at a release having a lifetime of 5-6 years, and then you should plan at a minimum of upgrading every 5 years of so.  I would encourage you to upgrade with every release but understand that there is a time cost to do so.
  • If you look at what you can download from the Products Download page, you will note that you can only download the current and two previous releases.  Take that as a hint as what is supported.

2. We stop support on an O/S, Database version if the manufacturer of that O/S, Database stops supporting it.

• • If you look in Appendix A and Appendix B of the supported systems document, this will tell you when we believe a manufacturer will stop support for their O/S, Database.
  • The supported systems document can be found in both the Product Downloads page and the Documentation Download page.  There is an earlier Ask Reuben article going into more depth on that document.

3. There are some exceptions and points to note

• • Genero Mobile we would always encourage you to be on the latest release. This is typically driven by the requirements to submit apps to the App Store / Play Store.  With older Genero Mobile releases you may find that you are unable to deploy via the App Store / Play Store as that release may use an older version of the mobile API.  For similar reason a product built using an older release may not be able to be installed on the latest device.   Hence for example this forum-post in June 2023 encouraging you to use the latest GMI and GMA release.
  • Four Js License Manager (FLM) we would always encourage you to be on the latest release.  At the time of writing we are in a transition period between the 5.20.xx and 6.00.xx releases.  Typically if you raise a support issue with FLM, the first thing you might be asked to do is try again with the latest release.
  • We only ever apply fixes on top of the latest maintenance release of a particular release.  If you are using X.Y.Z-1 when the latest release is X.Y.Z, the next release will be X.Y.Z+1 and will consist of X.Y.Z and whatever is new.   It is not an option to receive X.Y.Z-1 plus a bug fix for an individual issue.  If you are happy with a particular release I would still encourage you to download any later maintenance releases as they are released and smoke test your application on them.  This will provide reassurance that in the unlikely event you have to take a maintenance release in a hurry, you are not going to be impacted by something that was in an intermediate maintenance release.

So remember current plus two, support stops when the manufacturer stops, and plan on keeping upto date with Genero Mobile, and FLM