Release Model and Roadmap

This document contains information about the release model and the features we plan for the upcoming releases of SpecSync.

Release model

Each SpecSync release has a unique version number that is consisting of three numbers in the [major].[minor].[patch] format, e.g. 3.2.8. The major and minor version number is generally referred as the main version (e.g. the main version of 3.2.8 is 3.2).

We provide three type of releases:

• Main releases: The main releases have a new main version with an increased major or minor version number. These releases might contain new features and changes that might not be backwards compatible with the previous releases. The changelog always contains detailed information about the breaking changes, but these are usually changes that affect only a smaller subset of the users or require small change in the SpecSync configuration files. If the migration requires more work, we also provide a migration guide the helps with the upgrade process. Usually there are 1 or two main releases per year. It is recommended to upgrade to the latest main release at least once every year.

• Update releases: The update releases use the same main version number (e.g. 3.2), but have a unique patch number. These releases are backwards compatible with the releases of the same main version and contain bug fixes and smaller new features. The update releases are made on-demand, approximately 6 a year. We generally provide update releases for the last two main release. It is always recommend to upgrade to the latest update release of the main version you use.

• Preview releases: Preview releases are provided on-demand for specific customers to verify a certain feature or fix before it is released as an official main or update release. The version specifier of the preview release [major].[minor].[patch]-pre[date]-[day-sequence] format and they are published to nuget.org as a preview release. In general we do not recommend installing a preview release without consulting with SpecSync support.

It is always recommended to update to the latest update release as it might contain important bug fixes. It is also recommended to update to the latest main release at least once a year.

The How to upgrade to a newer version of SpecSync guide contains information about how to upgrade to a newer version.

Roadmap

We started to work on the next major release, v3.5 that is expected to be finalized Q1 2024. The v3.4 product line will still receive bug fixes in the meantime.

Planned features

• Synchronize to multiple Test Suites or to a Test Suite hierarchy. Although the design has been created, we still collect requirements for this feature. Please help use by filling out the Feature Planning Survey: Synchronizing Test Suite Hierarchies.

• Improved treatment of "remote scope" (i.e. telling SpecSync what Test Cases from Azure DevOps have been synchronized with the particular configuration). As part of this we plan to implement further remote scope setting possibilities (in addition to the existing suite-based remote scope), like "Tag-based" remote scope.

• Improved handling of errors and warnings during pipeline executions. (e.g. individually suppress warnings, automatically fail pipeline, etc.)

• New possibilities for the published test results (details soon!)

• Continuous improvements of synchronization and test result publishing