Software releases for both TIBCO® Streaming and TIBCO Spotfire® Data Streams fall into one of two release categories:
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Long-Term Support (LTS) releases
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Mainstream (MS) releases
Administrators of TIBCO Streaming services must decide which release type is best suited for their users. In general:
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LTS releases occur less frequently but offer longer product support options.
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Mainstream releases occur more frequently to allow faster access to the latest improvements and enhancements.
Announcement of these release categories was first made in August, 2020 with the following designation:
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TIBCO Streaming 10.6.0 is retroactively designated as the first LTS release.
Note
Time intervals described in the next two sections are approximate and typical, but there may be variations.
The features of a TIBCO Streaming Long-Term Support release are the following:
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Full Support is provided for three years from the General Availability (GA) release date. "Full Support" means:
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You can submit Support Cases to TIBCO Technical Support.
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Service Packs and Hot Fixes are provided for high severity issues, at TIBCO's discretion.
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At the end of the three year Full Support period, an End of Support (EOS) announcement is made. The release then enters a two-year Support Cases Only period, during which Support Cases continue to be handled on a best-effort basis. Service Packs and Hot Fixes are no longer available (except in the rare case of a Support Case that involves a security issue).
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The end of the two-year Support Cases Only period is the end of standard support for an LTS release.
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Customers can purchase an Extended Support contract to extend the Support Cases Only period for a designated time period.
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LTS releases for TIBCO Streaming are expected at 12 to 18 month intervals, as development conditions and thorough testing allow.
TIBCO strongly recommends basing production systems only on LTS releases.
The features of a TIBCO Streaming Mainstream release are the following:
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Full Support (defined above) is provided from the GA release date of a Mainstream release until the next Mainstream or LTS GA release.
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When the next release occurs, an EOS announcement is made for the current Mainstream release, which then enters a one year Support Cases Only period.
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The end of the one-year Support Cases Only period is the end of all support for a Mainstream release.
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No Extended Support contracts are available for Mainstream releases.
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No release schedule is expected for Mainstream releases, which might occur three to six months apart. It is also possible that one LTS release is followed by another LTS release without an intervening Mainstream release.
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Upgrades from any LTS or Mainstream release to any newer release is supported for customers with an active maintenance agreement.
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The TIBCO eDelivery site shows only recent LTS and Mainstream releases for download.