Ansible supports the two most recent major, stable releases. Security- and bug-related fixes may be implemented in older versions, but this
support is not guaranteed.
If you are on a release older than the last two major, stable releases, please see our `Porting Guide <http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/porting_guide_2.0.html>`_.
Ansible is on a 'flexible' 4 month release schedule. Sometimes the release cycle can be extended if there is a major change that requires more time (for example, a core rewrite).
Recently the main Ansible repo `merged <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/dev_guide/repomerge.html>`_ the separated ansible-modules-core and ansible-modules-extras repos, as such modules get released at the same time as the main Ansible repo.
The major features and bugs fixed in a release should be reflected in the `CHANGELOG.md <https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/CHANGELOG.md>`_. Minor features and bug fixes will be shown in the commit history. For example, `issue #19057 <https://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/19057>`_ is reflected only in the commit history.
When a fix orfeature gets added to the `devel` branch it will be part of the next release. Some bugfixes can be backported to previous releases and will be part of a minor point release if such a release is deemed necessary.
Sometimes a release candidate can be extended by a few days if a bug fix makes a change that can have far-reaching consequences, so users have enough time to find any new issues that may stem from this.
Ansible normally goes through a 'release candidate', issuing an RC1 for a release. If no major bugs are discovered in the release candidate after 5 business days, we'll get a final release. Otherwise, fixes will be applied and an RC2 will be provided for testing. If no bugs are discovered in RC2 after 2 days, the final release will be made, iterating this last step and incrementing the candidate number as we find major bugs.
During the release candidate process, the focus will be on bugfixes that affect the RC, new features will be delayed while we try to produce a final version. Some bugfixes that are minor or don't affect the RC will also be postponed until after the release is finalized.
