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SDK Support Policy

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This document outlines the support & deprecation policy for the Button Publisher SDK ("Button SDK").

SDK Support Policy in a Nutshell

  • Button will support all versions of the Button SDK for 6 months after release of that version
  • When making a major version update (e.g. moving from v5.x → v6.x) Button will support the last version of the v5.x SDK for 1 year
  • Partners should update their Button SDK at least once every 3 months
  • Partners must be on a supported version of the Button SDK

Support and Deprecation Policy

Making version support for the SDK explicit means that Partners can always expect full functionality & support on versions of the SDK that fall within the support window. It also means that Button can expect to be able to keep a limited number of versions of the SDK in the wild at any given time — making it easier to evolve the product and deliver new features!

Versioning and Updates

We want to make it easy to update the Button SDK regularly, so we follow the practice of Semantic Versioning.

In SemVer, a release version is always in the form x.y.z, where updates can assume no changes in code as long as x is constant.

With Semantic Versioning, it is always safe to update to any SDK version with the same Major version number without making any code changes. This is why we recommend including the Button SDK with a fuzzy-matched version of the current major version.

Button ~>5.0 // version >= 5.0 & < 6.0

Method Deprecation

New minor versions will never remove a method, but it may deprecate them. Deprecation means that a method is marked for removal, likely in the next major version.

In major version changes, methods, objects and semantics could change so it’s important to update major versions explicitly and carefully. It’s possible that an existing implementation of the Button SDK could stop working, or even not compile after a major version update. Where this is non-trivial, Button will create a migration guide.

Support

What does "Supported" mean?

A supported SDK version is guaranteed to function as it did on the day it was released, with no additional work by the Partner.

If an issue (new, or pre-existing) is discovered that is present in a supported SDK version it will be investigated as a P1 issue. If it causes an app crash, it will be investigated as a P0 issue.

Note — Bug fixes and fixes to security issues will not be backported to minor versions, but will be available in the same major version. e.g. An issue found in v5.10.1, would be resolved in a new version that is likely much greater, but is drop-in compatible e.g. v5.31.0. If it is present in a later major version, it would be fixed there too (e.g. in v6.1.0.)

Long term support versions

When Button introduces changes in the SDK that require meaningful Partner effort to upgrade to the latest version, Button will mark the previous version as a Long Term Support version of the SDK. This will happen for most (but not necessarily all) major version updates of the SDK e.g. v5.x.y → v6.0.0.

A Long Term Support SDK version will be guaranteed to function for 1 year from its release, at which time Partners will need to upgrade. This allows Partners time to schedule and plan for any necessary work (usually small, but not always trivial.)

Non-supported SDK versions

Button will notify Partners when a version of the SDK that is in use is approaching the end of its support period.

A version that is no longer supported may continue to function, but we do not guarantee it, and could make choices that negatively impact the behavior or performance of a version of the SDK that is no longer supported. In practice it means that this version of the SDK is no longer tested during all API and system changes, and may even be intentionally disabled.

Beta Releases

In certain scenarios, when working on major new functionality that we want to preview with our partners before fully releasing we will issue beta releases of the Button SDK.

These will be distributed normally, but with a version number that indicates that it is a beta release.

Beta version in semantic versioning e.g. v1.0.1-beta1

Guidelines for usage of beta releases

  • Beta releases must not be shipped to production without written permission from Button
  • Beta releases are not "supported" as described above unless otherwise explicitly stated
  • Where supported, beta releases will be supported only for 1 month after the availability of a non-beta release with the functionality in beta.

Updated about 1 year ago