Long Term Support vs Latest

[HOLTZ RAY - NMOA]

I'm going to be upgrading from Jira Software 7.13 soon, and am trying to decide between 8.5 because it is LongTermSupport,  or 8.12 now (knowing 8.13 will be LTS also but might not be able to wait).

My big question is, what is the difference?  The Atlassian Support End Of Life Policy page (https://bit.ly/3kcyPzk) shows both 8.5 and 8.12 expiring two years after their release.  If I go with the 8.5 LTS, I'll just be upgrading again in a year, but if I go with the non-LTS 8.12, I have almost two full years.   

So, whats the difference between LTS and Latest?  Please help me understand what I'm not understanding! :)

Thank you!

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist- · Accepted solution]

Latest becomes unsupported more quickly that the LTS versions, and will not get upgrades or patches.

Imagine that, to pick a random version, you are on Jira 8.2.x.  If you find a bug or a security problem, the fix will be to upgrade to 8.3 or above.  On a long-term-support version, patches and upgrades will continue to be released in that version.  So if you're on 8.5.x, if there is a problem, the fix will be to go to 8.5.latest, not 8/6+

[HOLTZ RAY - NMOA]

So do you mean that while 8.2.x is 'supported' by Atlassian's helpdesk for two years from the 8.2.0 release,  it won't be getting patches that whole time?

However, the 8.5.0 will be 'supported' by helpdesk AND get updates for the whole two years?

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

No, 8.2.0 will only get fixes in 8.2.1, 8.2.2, 8.2.3 and so-on.  Once 8.3 is released, those point releases will stop, if you want a fix for something broken in 8.2.x, you'll need to go to 8.3.x or higher.

On a long term support version such as 8.5.0, you'll find the point releases continue until the end of the life of that version, plus it might get patches (replacing a file or two and restarting it, avoiding any form of upgrade)

Have a look at the version history for the last couple of lts/enterprise releases as compared with non-lts - you'll see the lts point releases going into double figures, whereas the non-lts ones mostly have fewer than 5 before another mid-level release arrives.

[HOLTZ RAY - NMOA]

Nic,

Thank you for that answer.  It finally clicked what the difference is...

-LTS gets updates and patches for two years. (8.5.0, 8.5.1, 8.5.2, 8.5.3, 8.5.4,.... for two years)

-NonLTS only get updates until the next released version (8.3.0 means no more updates to the 8.2.x line)

Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

[Michael March]

A two good reasons to install the LTS releases (beyond what people have already stated in this thread) are:

1) Atlassian makes sure you can upgrade from one LTS to another with as much ease as possible.  EVERYTHING is tested on LTS.

2) Addon vendors also make sure their releases work with the LTS releases. Point release can be hit or miss.

[HOLTZ RAY - NMOA]

Thanks for the extra info Michael!

I'll stick with the LTS