Synergy/DE Release Strategy

Our release strategy for Synergy/DE products combines long-term support (LTS) releases with feature releases.

Long-Term Support (LTS) Releases

LTS releases provide a stable platform that’s supported for an extended period of time, with only quality, security, and platform updates—no new features. The primary characteristics of an LTS release are

  • A two-year release cadence, allowing you to plan your own updates accordingly
  • A four-year minimum support period (or one year after the next LTS release ships, whichever is longer)
  • Limited changes to the code base

Because Synergy has close ties with Microsoft .NET, we’ve broadly aligned our release schedule with the .NET release schedule, which also uses an LTS strategy and a two-year cadence. Version numbers for LTS releases have an odd major revision number, for example, 12.1.

Feature Releases

Feature releases deliver the latest technologies and enhancements, which build consecutively to the next LTS release. The primary characteristics of a feature release are

  • Access to new features and enhancements as soon as they’re completed
  • A more frequent release cadence
  • A shorter period of support (three months after a subsequent feature or LTS release)

While feature releases are fully tested, quality may be lower in areas where new code has been added or significant changes have been made. Quality will solidify as developers exercise the new features and our automated test suites are extended. Version numbers for feature releases have an even major revision number, for example, 13.2. Fixes to a feature release will only be provided via the next feature (or LTS) release.

Supported Versions

When a Synergy/DE version is supported, it means Synergex will provide updates for it. An unsupported version (aka a retired version) no longer receives updates. You can still contact our Developer Support team for assistance, although our ability to assist you may be limited. And you can still purchase licenses and download that version, but if you need a fix, you’ll need to update to a current version.

In contrast, Synergy DBL Integration with Visual Studio (SDI) always has only one current version. When a new SDI build is released, the previous SDI build is immediately retired.

Synergy/DE’s runtime version targeting enables developers to use the latest and greatest feature-release and SDI tools while deploying to an LTS (or feature release) production platform.