Announcing the next Jira Long Term Support releases (previously known as: Enterprise releases)

[#1]

In case you missed it: We recently renamed Enterprise releases to Long Term Support releases and have expanded our security bug fix policy. We will continue to backport critical security bug fixes and now when architecturally possible we will also backport all other security bug fixes to Long Term Support releases.

G’day, Jira Community!

Since introducing Jira Software 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5, many of you have been asking what versions the next Long Term Support (LTS) releases will be so you can take advantage of exciting features and improvements like our completely refreshed Velocity chart, the ability to create sprints with future dates, personal accessibility settings, improved queues, as well as rate limiting and advanced auditing for Data Center.

We understand that advance notice helps you plan for upgrades. That’s why we’re sharing with you now that 8.13 and 4.13 will be the next LTS releases for Jira Software and Jira Service Desk. We’re continuing to target the same ~12 month cadence between LTS releases (Jira Software 8.5 and Jira Service Desk 4.5 were released in October 2019).

How to decide if a LTS release is right for you

Deciding if a Long Term Support release is right for you depends on the needs of your business. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but here are some key factors to consider before adopting a release: your preferred upgrade cadence, the complexity of your instance, and how important new features are to you.

(more background on release types here)

End of Life nearing for Jira Software 7.13 and Jira Service Desk 3.16

As a reminder, the two-year support window for the Jira Software 7.13 and Jira Service Desk 3.16 LTS releases will end on November 28, 2020. At this time there will be two designated LTS releases: 8.5.x and 8.13.x for Jira Software and 4.5.x and 4.13.x for Jira Service Desk.

If you’re currently on 7.13/3.16 and want to stick with LTS releases, you’re probably wondering which release you should upgrade to. While there is no catch-all answer, our general recommendation is to upgrade to 8.5/4.5 first, and then take advantage of Zero downtime upgrades (available for Data Center) to upgrade to 8.13/4.13 once it becomes available.

If you work with a Technical Account Manager or Premier Support, consult your contact for a recommendation based on your environment and upgrade cadence.

We hope this early announcement helps you plan for your next upgrade.

Cheers,
Lisa

[Sachin]

Does this apply for confluence enterprise releases ?

[Lisa Kaufman]

@Sachin - Yes, it does. The new name ("Long Term Support release") and extended security bug fix policy applies to all Enterprise releases across product lines.

[Sachin]

Perfect! Thank you @Lisa Kaufman 

[Bipin Brahmanandan]

2 LTS in a year. You are really killing it.

[David Yu]

I'm more of a deliver the latest greatest features to users quick, but the latest updates to Service Desk forced us to remain on LTS. I hope you can do a review of these two items since they will be included in the next LTS, I don't know what real-world impact is like, but I decided to stay on the 8.5.X LTS due to the risk:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-6726

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-6719

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JSDSERVER-6692 (fixed)

[Carol Jones]

Do you know when this will this be reflected on the official Long Term Support releases page?

[Gonchik Tsymzhitov]

Just curious how you will motivate us to update to non-LTS releases? :) 

Maybe time to make independent component upgrade? e.g. system-apps (Agile, JSD, Seraph, SAML etc ) can be updated via UPM. 

and make platform upgrades will be as LTS or little bit shorter :) For your team  it helps to deliver faster component upgrades, disadvantages are headache of making integration and mutation tests. 

[Lisa Kaufman]

Hi @David Yu , we're adding 6726 to the backlog and will be fixing it soon. We haven't yet made a final call on 6719, but are continuing to monitor it. We recommend you continue to follow this issue for updates.

[Lisa Kaufman]

@Carol Jones - The Long Term Support releases page only shows releases that have already shipped. This release will be reflected on that page as soon as it is available for download :)

[BenjaminW]

Will the 8.13 enterprise release support mysql 8:

https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/JRASERVER-67359#:~:text=Current%20versions%20of%20Jira%20support,recent%20database%20versions%20as%20well.

Thanks

[Sachin]

I have been watching that issue for a while now @BenjaminW , and I am happy to see that Atlassian is making some progress on that one. I am sure we will see this happen in one of the upcoming releases of Jira Server and Data Center. But, that's a good question whether  8.13 enterprise release support mysql 8

[P_D_ Foerster]

Thank you for sharing this. Do you have a rough ETA when Jira Server 8.13 will be out?

[Lisa Kaufman]

@BenjaminW @Sachin I am happy to inform you that the 8.13 LTS release will include support for MySQL 8.

[Lisa Kaufman]

@P_D_ Foerster While plans can change due to unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate 8.13 to follow the same ~12-month cadence between LTS releases. The last Jira Software LTS release was 8.5 which was released in October 2019.

[Sachin]

That's awesome! Thanks @Lisa Kaufman 

[Taranjeet Singh]

@Lisa Kaufman Thanks for the updates on the upcoming LTS releases for JIRA!

[Nirmani Kalakheti]

@Lisa Kaufman

Is LTS still going to be released in October? If so when in October? 

[Gonchik Tsymzhitov]

@Nirmani Kalakheti fingers crossed

[Lisa Kaufman]

@Nirmani Kalakheti @Gonchik Tsymzhitov - We're still targeting October. If anything changes, I'll provide an update here. Thank you for your interest.

[Claudio Kuenzler]

@Lisa KaufmanAny chance that the next LTS 8.13 comes out earlier? Microsoft announced the end of Basic Authentication on e-mail services, OAUTH must be used from October 13th 2020 on (https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/office/blogs/end-of-support-for-basic-authentication-access-to-exchange-online-apis-for-office-365-customers/).
But OAUTH for incoming mail is only available since Jira 8.10 and it's not an LTS version - hence my question.

[P_D_ Foerster]

@Claudio Kuenzler Microsoft has deferred disabling basic auth until the second half of 2021 (https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/office/blogs/deferred-end-of-support-date-for-basic-authentication-in-exchange-online/). This should give Atlassian plenty of room to release the backport to 8.5. Maybe the next LTS will be out sooner than the backport :D

[Claudio Kuenzler]

Thanks @P_D_ Foerster , that info definitely helps! (on my research I only found the EOL article, not this one). Yes with that in mind, there will be enough time for the next LTS :-)

[Lisa Kaufman]

Thanks @P_D_ Foerster for surfacing that insight! And @Claudio Kuenzle, I'm happy to hear that this timing will work for you. :) 

[ViswanathanR]

Hi, our current version is 7.13.3. I recently upgraded our test instance to 8.5.3. Do you recommend to stick with this or some other? If you mean 8.5.x? x relates to latest which is 8.5.8?

[Divya TV]

Can you please let us know when would you release next Jira software long term version?