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 6 has been initial 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 Appliance Edition (powered by Univention), Open-Xchange Hosting Edition and Open-Xchange Server Edition. Build numbers for all releases are starting at "6000". Outlook connectors for this version use build numbers starting at 6.0.

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 Outlook connectors are not compatible to each other as of different backend technology and data formats. In 2009 Open-Xchange will release a new sync-connector called OXtender for Mac OS X (Synchronization between Open-Xchange Server 6 and Mac OS X). Addition there will be a Mobility solution at the first half of 2009.

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

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.	6. (former 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 (former OX 6 SP 6)
<minor release>	The third version number (minor releases) indicates an important functional program extension or update. These are mainly consolidated bug fixes and minor feature enhancements. APIs and database will not be changed if this can be avoided. All changes must be backward compatible.	6.10.1 (former OX 6 SP 6 Update 1)
<build number>	The Rev-number (Revision) shows the progress of the development in single steps

Release Levels of Open-Xchange

These are the new Open-Xchange Release Levels 2009:

OX Release Level (new)	New Generation	Major Release	Minor Release	PTF	Public PTF, Security Fix
OX Release Level (old)	New Generation	Service Pack e.g. OXHE SP3	Maintenance Release, e.g. OXHE SP3 Update 1	PTF	Security Fix
Target Audience	All	Public/All	Maintenance customers & Partners	Selected customers, L3 Support Customers, Value Package Partners	Public/All
Purpose	Provide new technologies	Provide functional enhancements including Bug Fixes, accumulate earlier PTF’s/ major releases	Provide common bug fixes for all customers, accumulate previous PTF’s	Provide fixes of Blocker/Critical bugs, for Support Customer, temporary until next Maintenance Release accumulative	Fix security holes
Frequency	Open-Xchange Roadmap	Open-Xchange Roadmap	Open-Xchange Roadmap	As requested by customers	As soon as required
Requested by	Product Management	Product Management, Professional Services	Support, QA, Product Management, Professional Services	Entitled Customer (Support, Professional Services)	Entitled Customer (Support, Professional Services)
Compatibility requirements/backward compatibility		Database updates, Changes of configuration files	Full backward compatibility to last major release. In urgent cases there could be database updates or configuration file changes	Full backward compatibility to last major release	Full backward compatibility to last major release
OX-Internal Beta	Yes	Yes	Selected Partner	None	None
OX-External Beta	Yes	Yes	Selected Partner	None	None
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, Bug Fix Tests - Support: Fix Approval	Smoke Tests, Bug Fix Tests - Support: 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 (Codename: Hyperion)

Abstract

One of the most remarkable visual differences between Hymalia and Hyperion is the user interface which has been re-developed from scratch with a attention to usability, performance and design. The GUI does not render on the server any longer but it is built upon HTML, CSS and ECMAScript (Javascript) that renders every UI element dynamically at the users browser and communicates with the server using the JSON data-interchange format. This technology is better known as AJAX.

As well as the user interface, all server components have been re-engineered and simplified. Instead of using Apache Tomcat as servlet engine, a custom AJP13 implementation for the server frontend has been designed. All kinds of data is stored to a MySQL database by default instead of PostgreSQL, LDAP is also no longer a core component.Binary data such as attachments or infostore entries are stored to a common filestorage with references at the database for better indexing and performance.

Compared to Hymalia, Hyperion is capable to serve a unlimited amount of users as the backends can be easily clustered using the Java Caching System (JCS). Because all user interface actions are handled by the users browser, the server only deals with raw user data instead of HTML generation which leads to a massive boost of concurrent users and response times as well as bandwidth saving. This is one factor why Open-Xchange Server 6 is used by Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers that offer hosted solutions which are accessed via the internet.

Open-Xchange Server 6 offers a standardized HTTP_API to connect external clients which use the groupware capabilites of the Open-Xchange Server. Another common interface to the server is the Oxwebdavapi which provides WebDAV/XML access. This interface is used by the OXtender for Microsoft Outlook for example.

Access for external storage clients like Novell Netdrive, Konqueror or the Microsoft Windows Explorer to use the Infostore module as a virtual hard-drive is realized via WebDAV. This feature is very useful for desktop integration as it is platform independent and all groupware permissions is also maintained.

Server configuration and administration is possible by using the Java Remote Method Invocation (RMI) interface. This technology can be accessed directly or via a set of Command Line Tools which are wrappers to the RMI interface. Server Monitoring is realized by using Java Management Extensions (JMX).

Screenshot

Hyperion GUI

Editions

Abbreviation	Description	Target usage
OX:HE	Open-Xchange Hosting Edition	Integration to hosting environments
OX:SE	Open-Xchange Server Edition	Integration to in-house customer environments
OX:AE	Open-Xchange Appliance Edition	Out-Of-The-Box Groupware experience powered by Univention Corporate Server, successor of OX:EE

Open-Xchange Server 5 (Codename: Hymalia)

Screenshot

Hymalia GUI

Editions

Abbreviation	Description	Target usage
OX 0.8.x	Community Edition
OX5 SBS	OX5 Small Business Suite	For small companies with a maximum of 25 users.
OX5 ASE	OX5 Advanced Server Edition	For larger organizations with more than 25 users.