Agency oriented TYPO3 lifecycle (AKA LLTS)
I initialized this topic without a core member support (yet) from the discusson about TYPO3 v9 requirements (https://decisions.typo3.org/t/minimum-requirements-for-typo3-v9/) and I think that one point that sticked out from this discussion is that the whole thing about the release and the requirements is not agency oriented or agency friendly. Therefore I propose a new, additional, TYPO3 lifecycle of 3 to 5 years called long long term support (LLTS).
Impact
The main impact is on the TYPO3 core team, since they would be the ones to have to support TYPO3 versions up to 5 years old (or maybe more, if you would consider releasing an extended long long term support or ELLTS). Also, in order to relieve the core team from some work, only odd or even versions of TYPO3 could get an ELTS and maybe only every second LLTS version gets an ELLTS.
Pro
- long long term versions are more attractive for companies that have to plan their software schedules years in advance
- if needed, a specific feature can be backported into a minor version (see Ubuntu and their minor versions)
- instead of providing (E)LTS support for 1,2 or 3 TYPO3 versions (as it was the case until march 31st 2017), you could reduce it to maximum 2 versions
- new versions shipped to companies have noticeable added value
- agencies with lots of TYPO3 instances have enough time to update to newer versions of TYPO3 and/or Linux/Windows distros if needed without jeopardizing the security of their customers websites
- tech freaks can continue to “play around” and make a new fancy product
Con
- increased maintaining effort for the TYPO3 core team
Remarks and notes
Organizational
Topic Initiator: Tizian Schmidlin st@cabag.ch
Topic Mentor: