docs/RELEASE_POLICY.md
This document describes Firecracker release planning, API support, and the Firecracker release lifetime. Firecracker provides this Release Policy to help customers effectively plan their Firecracker based operations.
Firecracker uses
semantic versioning 2.0.0 for all
releases. By definition, the API version implemented by a Firecracker binary is
equivalent to that binary’s version. Semantic versions are comprised of three
fields in the form: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH. Additional labels for pre-release and
build metadata are available as extensions to the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format.
For example: v0.20.0, v0.22.0-beta5, and v99.123.77+foo.bar.baz.5.
Firecracker publishes major, minor and patch releases:
PATCH field is incremented whenever critical bugs and/or
security issues are found in a supported release. The fixes in a PATCH release
do not change existing behavior or the user interface. Upgrade is recommended.MINOR field is incremented, the new release adds
new features, bug fixes, or both without changing the existing user interface
or user facing functionality. Adding new APIs can be done in a MINOR
Firecracker release as long as it doesn’t change the functionality of the APIs
available in the previous release. Minor releases are shipped when features
are ready for production. Multiple features may be bundled in the same
release.MAJOR field is incremented, the new release adds
new features and/or bug fixes, changing the existing user interface or user
facing functionality. This may make the new release it incompatible with
previous ones. A major release will likely require changes from other
components interacting with Firecracker, e.g. API request, commands, or guest
components. The changes will be detailed in the release notes. Major releases
are published whenever features or bug fixes that changes the existing user
interface, or user facing functionality, are ready for production.The Firecracker maintainers will only provide support for Firecracker releases under our repository's release page.
The Firecracker maintainers will provide patch releases for critical bugs and security issues when they are found, for:
vMAJOR.MINOR releases for up to 1 year from release
date;vMAJOR.MINOR release for at least 6 months from release
date;vMAJOR, the latest MINOR for 1 year since release date;Starting with release v1.0, for each major and minor release, we will also be specifying the supported kernel versions.
In case of an event occurring in 2022-10-03, all three releases will be patched since less than 6 months elapsed from their MINOR release time.
In case of of an event occurring in 2023-05-04, v2.11 and v2.12 will be patched since those were the last 2 Firecracker major releases and less than an year passed since their release time.
In case of of an event occurring in 2023-01-13, v2.14 will be patched since is the last minor of v2 and has less than one year since release while v3.0 and v3.1 will be patched since were the last two Firecracker releases and less than 6 months have passed since release time.
| Release | Release Date | Latest Patch | Min. end of support | Official end of Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| v1.15 | 2026-03-09 | v1.15.0 | 2026-09-09 | Supported |
| v1.14 | 2025-12-17 | v1.14.3 | 2026-06-17 | Supported |
| v1.13 | 2025-08-28 | v1.13.2 | 2026-02-28 | 2026-03-09 (v1.15 released) |
| v1.12 | 2025-05-07 | v1.12.1 | 2025-11-07 | 2025-12-17 (v1.14 released) |
| v1.11 | 2025-03-18 | v1.11.0 | 2025-09-18 | 2025-09-18 (end of 6mo support) |
| v1.10 | 2024-11-07 | v1.10.1 | 2025-05-07 | 2025-05-07 (v1.12 released) |
| v1.9 | 2024-09-02 | v1.9.1 | 2025-03-02 | 2025-03-18 (v1.11 released) |
| v1.8 | 2024-07-10 | v1.8.0 | 2025-01-10 | 2025-01-10 (end of 6mo support) |
| v1.7 | 2024-03-18 | v1.7.0 | 2024-09-18 | 2024-09-18 (end of 6mo support) |
| v1.6 | 2023-12-20 | v1.6.0 | 2024-06-20 | 2024-07-10 (v1.8 released) |
| v1.5 | 2023-10-09 | v1.5.1 | 2024-04-09 | 2024-04-09 (end of 6mo support) |
| v1.4 | 2023-07-20 | v1.4.1 | 2024-01-20 | 2024-01-20 (end of 6mo support) |
| v1.3 | 2023-03-02 | v1.3.3 | 2023-09-02 | 2023-10-09 (v1.5 released) |
| v1.2 | 2022-11-30 | v1.2.1 | 2023-05-30 | 2023-07-20 (v1.4 released) |
| v1.1 | 2022-05-06 | v1.1.4 | 2022-11-06 | 2023-03-02 (v1.3 released) |
| v1.0 | 2022-01-31 | v1.0.2 | 2022-07-31 | 2022-11-30 (v1.2 released) |
| v0.25 | 2021-03-13 | v0.25.2 | 2021-09-13 | 2022-03-13 (end of 1y support) |
The Firecracker API follows the semantic versioning standard. For a new release, we will increment the:
Given a Firecracker version X.Y.Z user-generated client, it is guaranteed to work as expected with all Firecracker binary versions X.V.W, where V >= Y.
Firecracker uses semantic versioning 2.0.0 in terms of deprecating and removing API elements. We will consider a deprecated API element to be an element which still has backing functionality and will be supported at least until the next MAJOR version, where they will be removed. The support period of deprecated API elements is tied to the Firecracker release support.
A feature is "in" developer preview if it’s marked as such in the Firecracker roadmap and/or in the Firecracker release notes.
Features in developer preview should not be used in production as they are not supported. Firecracker team may not provide patch releases for critical bug fixes or security issues found in features marked as developer preview.
Features in developer preview may be subject to changes at any time. Changes in existing user interface or user facing functionality of a feature marked as developer preview can be released without changing the major version.
Firecracker feature planning is outlined in the Firecracker roadmap.