Versioning and Numbering

Versioning and Numbering of Open-Xchange Products

General Declaration

The Open-Xchange GmbH currently release two different generations of the Open-Xchange Collaboration Suite.

Open-Xchange Server 5 has been released as a community edition that uses the version namespace 0.8.x which is published in regular cycles as a source-only release. It is the groundwork for the commercial Open-Xchange Server 5 product line. Commercial products use build numbers starting at "5000". Outlook connectors for this version use build numbers starting at 4.0. Open-Xchange Server 5 is no longer sold, and system maintenance stopped on April 30, 2010.

Open-Xchange Server 6 has been initially published in February 2007 and its sourcecode is distributed via a daily synchronized CVS repository and precompiled packages to the Open-Source community. It is the groundwork for the commercial products Open-Xchange Advanced Server Edition (powered by Univention), Open-Xchange Hosting Edition and Open-Xchange Server Edition. Version numbers for all releases of the server and client/connector software are all starting with a "6".

Open-Xchange Server 6 is the successor of Open-Xchange Server 5.

Those two software generations differ extremely from each other, they use different backends, different APIs, different code and different user interfaces. They have in common that they are maintained by Open-Xchange GmbH and are at steady improvement by Open-Xchange and the Open-Source community. Those two generations as well as the connectors are not compatible to each other as of different backend technology and data formats. Open-Xchange offers a wide array of client and synchronization software for popular PIM client software like Outlook. There is also a connector for synchronization between Open-Xchange Server 6 and MacOS X native applications, a web interface optimized for mobile devices and several solutions for mobile device synchronization. Partners and the community are working on synchronization solutions for popular platforms like Evolution or Mozilla Thunderbird/Lightning.

Abbreviations

The Open-Xchange versioning 2009 (After SP5 Update 1) will be structured in the following way:

<generation>.<major release>.<minor release> Rev<build number>

Abbreviation	Meaning	Comparison
<generation>	The first number is the product generation number. A new generation may contain new architecture, different technology and many more.	OX 6
<major release>	The second version number (major release) indicates significant program changes in terms of added functionality. Major changes to design and enhancements of APIs are possible. All APIs shall be backward compatible, which means, that mainly new functions can be added. If Open-Xchange releases a new major release this will be an even number, unstable interim releases have odd numbers.	6.10
<minor release>	The third version number (minor releases) indicates an update with consolidated bug fixes and non-intrusive feature enhancements. APIs and database will not be changed if this can be avoided. All changes must be backward compatible.	6.10.1
<build number>	The Rev-number (Revision) shows the progress of the development in single steps	6.10.1-Rev3
Public Patch Release / Patch Release	A Public Patch Release enables Open-Xchange to publish a feature together with a patch. This in turn enables Open-Xchange to react more flexibly to time requests for certain features, thus relieving minor releases and making it possible to shift them. Delivering a feature with a Public Patch Release requires: It can be implemented without far-reaching side effects. This is especially true for features that are implemented as plug-ins. To a limited extend, features affecting a limited sub set of core functionality can be included. Technical pragmatism is fine to reach the goal (e.g., copy & paste of functionality instead of abstraction into a service). This pragmatism has to be leveled out though as soon as the feature is ported into a more flexible branch. It can be deactivated and is deactivated by default. If a customer installs a Public Patch Release, the familiar feature set does not change. Only if explicitly activating the enhanced features, will they be available to the end user. If features require changes to the data base schema or configuration files, they have to be developed in such a way that they do not impair the running system. Side-effects of Public Patch Releases are evaluated by the respective developers. Together with the QA team, they make a test plan for checking for those side effects and other effects.

Release Levels of Open-Xchange

These are the new Open-Xchange Release Levels 2011:

OX Release Level (new)	New Generation	Major Release	Minor Release	Patch Release	Public Patch Release
OX Release Level (old)	New Generation	Service Pack	Maintenance Release	Program Temporary Fix (PTF)	Public Program Temporary Fix (Public PTF), Security Fix
Target Audience	All	Public/All	Maintenance customers & Partners	L3 Support Customers, Value Package Partners	Public/All
Purpose	Provide new technologies	Provide functional enhancements including Bug Fixes, accumulate earlier Patch Releases's/ major releases	Provide common bug fixes for all customers, accumulate previous Patch Release's	Provide fixes for severity level 1/2 tickets, for a specific Support Customer, small features, temporary until next Maintenance Release accumulative	Provide fixes for severity level 1/2 tickets, for all Support Customer, small features, temporary until next Maintenance Release accumulative
Frequency	Open-Xchange Roadmap	Every 6 to 12 weeks	Decided by Open-Xchange	According to SLA	As soon as required
Support Committment	5 years after First Customer Shippment (FCS)	6 months after FCS of the Major Release	Next Major Release	Next Major Release	Next Major Release
Requested by	Product Management	Product Management, Professional Services	Support, QA, Product Management, Professional Services	Entitled Customer (Support, Professional Services)	Entitled Customer (Support, Professional Services), Product Management
Compatibility requirements/backward compatibility		Database updates, Changes of configuration files	Backward compatibility to last major release. In urgent cases there could be database updates or configuration file changes	Backward compatibility to last major release	Backward compatibility to last major release
Test Efforts OX (QA)	Smoke Tests, Always Tests, Bug Fix Tests, Feature Tests, Dependencies Tests, Heuristic Tests, Performance Tests	Smoke Tests, Always Tests, Bug Fix Tests, Feature Tests, Dependencies Tests, Heuristic Tests, Performance Tests	Smoke Test, Always Tests, Bug Fix Tests, Dependencies Tests, Heuristic Tests, Performance Tests	Smoke Tests, Always Tests, Bug Fix Tests - Support: Fix Approval	Smoke Tests, Always Tests, Bug Fix Tests - Fix Approval
Test Efforts Customer/Partner	Smoke Tests, Bug Fix Tests, New Feature Tests, Integration Tests	Smoke Tests, Bug Fix Tests, New Feature Tests, Integration Tests	Smoke Tests, Bug Fix Tests, Integration Tests	Smoke Tests, Bug Fix Approval	Smoke Tests

Open-Xchange Server 6

Editions

Abbreviation	Description	Target usage
OX:HE	Open-Xchange Hosting Edition	Designed for organizations that want to provide a scalable, multi-tenant e-mail and collaboration solution to their customers. Focus: Software-as-a-Service offerings
OX:SE	Open-Xchange Server Edition	Designed for medium and large size organizations, educational institutions and public administrations seeking a customizable communication solution. Focus: System Integrators
OX:SEforUCS	Open-Xchange Server Edition for Univention Corporate Server	Integration to in-house customer environments
OX:ASE	Open-Xchange Advanced Server Edition	Designed for small to medium size organizations, educational institutions and public administrations seeking for a customizable and in-house communication solution. Available for single-server (former OX Appliance Edition) and multi-server-setups. Focus: SIs and VARs

Releases

2012

GA	Release Name	Public Patch Releases	Shipped Packages
2012-01-31	Open-Xchange HE / SE / ASE / SE for UCS 6.20.1		Version: v6.20.1 Rev 5 (built 2012-01-26/27) OXtender 2 for MS Outlook v.7.0.43 OX Client Updater v.6.18.10
2012-02-10			OXtender 2 for Microsoft Outlook (v7.0.46 built 2012-02-10)
2012-02-13	Open-Xchange Microsoft Outlook Uploader v6.20.1		Open-Xchange Microsoft Outlook Uploader (Version: v6.20.1)
2012-02-20			Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.1 Rev 7 built between 2012-02-16 and 2012-02-20) OXUpdater (Version: 6.18.12)
2012-02-23			Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.1 Rev 8 built 2012-02-23)
2012-03-08			OX Mobile Web App (Version: v1.0.0 Rev 12 built 2012-02-23
2012-03-14	Open-Xchange HE / SE / ASE / SE for UCS 6.20.2		Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.2 Rev 2 built 2012-03-08/09) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook 2 (Version: 7.0.47)
2012-03-21			OXtender 2 for Microsoft Outlook 7.0.48
2012-03-22			Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.2 Rev 5 built 2012-03-22)
2012-03-28			Open-Xchange Server 6 v6.20.2-rev7
2012-04-03	Open-Xchange Mobile Web Interface (former Mobile Web App)		Open-Xchange Mobile Web Interface v.1.1 (Version 1.1.0-rev6)
2012-04-23	Open-Xchange HE / SE / ASE / SE for UCS 6.20.3		Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.3 Rev 2 built 2012-04-19/23) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook (Version: 6.18.18) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook 2 (Version: 7.0.49)
2012-05-15	Open-Xchange HE / SE / ASE / SE for UCS 6.20.4		Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.4 Rev 1 built 2012-05-10 and 2012-05-15) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook 2 (Version: 7.0.52)
2012-05-30	Open-Xchange Mobile Web Interface		Open-Xchange Mobile Web Interface (Version 1.1.0-rev9)
2012-05-31			Open-Xchange Server 6 (Version: v6.20.4 Rev 2 built 2012-05-31) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook 2 (Version: 7.0.53)
2012-06-13	Open-Xchange ASE & SEforUCS with UCS 3.0		oxase6204-20120613-dvd-amd64.iso oxase6204-20120613-dvd-i386.iso
2012-06-19	Open-Xchange HE / SE / ASE / SE for UCS 6.20.5		Open-Xchange Server 6 (v6.20.5 Rev 1 built 2012-06-18) OXtender for Microsoft Outlook 2 (v7.0.54)
2012-06-25			oxase6205-20120625-dvd-amd64.iso oxase6205-20120625-dvd-i386.iso

Maintance expires

Product-, Release- and Component Name	Maintance expires
OXtender 1 for MS Outlook	2012-08-31 - Replaced by OXtender 2 for MS Outlook
Open-Xchange WebDAV XML API	2012-09-30

What version do I have installed

Check this article to find out.