Globus Toolkit Versioning
The Globus Toolkit versioning scheme is similar to the approach used for the Linux kernel. Distributions of the Globus Toolkit are tagged with a version number consisting of three parts:
<major>.<minor>.<incremental>
The major release number represents the major state of the Globus Toolkit. It is incremented when significant architectural shifts occur in toolkit development.
A change in the minor release number indicates that new features have been added to the Globus Toolkit since the last release. Though infrequent, API changes may occur between minor releases.
The incremental release number changes when existing components of the Globus Toolkit have been updated. These releases generally are triggered by one or more bug fixes. Public interfaces do not change between increments of stable releases.
Stable and Development Releases
There are two series in the Globus Toolkit release stream: stable and development. Stable distributions have an even minor version number, while development distributions have an odd minor version number. For example:
| Stable Releases | Development Releases |
| globus-4.0.1 | globus-3.9.5 |
| globus-4.0.0 | globus-3.9.4 |
| globus-3.2.1 | globus-3.3.0 |
Releases in the development series are used to publish new features in a timely manner. Development distributions may behave in unpredictable ways and should not be used in production settings. Unlike stable releases, feature additions and changes to public interfaces can happen between incremental versions of development releases.
Support Commitment
The Globus Alliance offers support for the last two stable releases. Support is provided on a best effort basis. Since no new features can be added once a stable release is cut, code changes on stable releases are limited to bug fixes.
A development release does not receive the same level of support from the Globus Alliance as a stable release. For a development release, new features are given priority over bug fixes.
Releases that are no longer supported by the Globus Alliance will remain available in the FTP archive.