We’re excited to announce Synergy/DE 12.3.1.1014, our second long-term support (LTS) release. This version continues our efforts to give you access to current technologies and help you improve the reliability and maintenance of your Synergy solutions. Synergy/DE 12.3 delivers a number of important features—all previously released and customer-tested via 12.2 feature releases. Download Synergy/DE 12.3 in the Synergex Resource Center.

Our first LTS release (12.1) came out in April 2022. Since then, we’ve released three 12.2 feature releases as we worked towards the 12.3 LTS version. (For more information about LTS and feature releases, see our Release Strategy.)

Release notes are now generated automatically and are provided on the Trackers page in the Synergex Resource Center. They are no longer distributed with the products as text files. Clicking on a release notes link on the Downloads page will take you to the Trackers page and will display a list of all trackers in that release, along with their release note information. Important Notes and Warnings will always appear at the top of the list.

Synergy/DE 12.3 includes the following features:

• Support for OrderBy on joined tables in the Select class. This feature enables you to order joined tables inside the Select feature in both traditional Synergy and Synergy .NET for local queries as well as queries over xfServer. Sorting results by ordering data in joined tables opens up a number of possibilities for optimizing Select operations. Also, joined tables are used extensively by Harmony Core, and the addition of this language feature will subsequently enable more Harmony Core enhancements.
• Language support for inline variable declarations in FOREACH statements in both traditional Synergy and Synergy .NET. This is a quality-of-life improvement for Synergy developers that enables you to declare FOREACH loop variables within the FOREACH statement. It supports both explicit and implicit typing.
• New isutl -b and -ex options for managing free space and file allocation in ISAM files, specifically introduced to prevent issues for ISAM files that receive millions of small record writes and run into Windows file system limitations.
• Support for OpenSSL 3.0 and 3.1. Whether you’re using the HTTP document transport API, xfServer, xfODBC Client, or any other Synergy component requiring encryption, the latest and most secure options are now available to you. With the recent end of life for OpenSSL 1.1.1, now is a great time to start planning your OpenSSL 3.0 rollout for your systems, products, and customers.
• Select class performance enhancements for small result sets, offering up to 65% improvement for some complex Select operations.
• Synergy .NET support for .NET 8. The Synergy .NET runtime is now built with and targets .NET 8.
• Support for Synergy targeting .NET 6 and higher on Linux-based operating systems. Combined with the latest versions of Synergy DBL Integration for Visual Studio (SDI) and its powerful remote debugging, Synergy .NET on Linux opens the door to improved developer experiences, increased tool and library availability, and much more. The release includes runtime support for
  • Targeting .NET 6, .NET 7, and .NET 8 Preview on Linux-based operating systems
  • Most low-level windows and Toolkit APIs when targeting .NET 6+ on Linux
  • Most low-level windows and Toolkit APIs—in a Linux-consistent style—when targeting .NET 6+ on Windows.

  Note: Existing .NET Framework support has not changed; if you are targeting .NET Framework, you can continue to do so with full support.

  For many of you, this support will provide an easier path to .NET and all the benefits that come with it, including a huge ecosystem of classes and libraries. Integrating with other applications and data is much easier when you have a .NET application. For general .NET info, see Microsoft’s answer to “Why Choose .NET?”

  If you’re running on Linux now and you’re using Harmony Core with part of your solution, you already have a foot in the .NET 6+ door. Your Harmony Core–enabled software can now run on Linux, and you can port more of your software to run on Linux via Synergy .NET.

  If you’re on Linux but not yet using Synergy .NET or Harmony Core, you can now step into .NET more easily, and you can do so incrementally. 

  Another exciting aspect of Synergy support for .NET 6+ on Linux is that it gives our Professional Services team a new avenue when helping customers move their solutions forward. They can now assist you in moving to .NET for Linux, and they can take advantage of the .NET ecosystem there when looking for the best solutions to meet your project requirements.

  For additional information, see our documentation on Synergy .NET Development.

Note that Synergy DBL Integration for Visual Studio (SDI) is distributed separately and on a more frequent cadence than Synergy/DE. For information about recent SDI features, see our blog.

Per Synergex release strategy, we’ll support this 12.3 LTS release for four years (until 2028) or for one year after the next LTS release, whichever is later. Also, we’ll support the 12.1 LTS release until April 1, 2026 (four years after its release) and the most recent 12.2 feature release, 12.2.1.1010, through June 8 (three months after the 12.3 release). See our release strategy page for more details about supported versions.

We encourage you to update to 12.3 as soon as it aligns with your product delivery schedule so you can take advantage of the new features and quality enhancements, plus get on board with 12.3’s long-term support cycle.