There are multiple supported feature frozen releases of
Asterisk. Once a release series is made available, it is supported for
some period of time. During this initial support period, releases
include changes to fix bugs that have been reported. At some point, the
release series will be deprecated and only maintained with fixes for
security issues. Finally, the release will reach its End of Life, where
it will no longer receive changes of any kind.
The type of release defines how long it will be supported. A Long
Term Support (LTS) release will be fully supported for 4 years, with one
additional year of maintenance for security fixes. Standard releases
are supported for a shorter period of time, which will be at least one
year of full support and an additional year of maintenance for security
fixes.
The following table shows the release time lines for all releases of Asterisk, including those that have reached End of Life.
| Release Series |
Release Type |
Release Date |
Security Fix Only |
EOL |
| 1.2.X |
|
2005-11-21 |
2007-08-07 |
2010-11-21 |
| 1.4.X |
LTS |
2006-12-23 |
2011-04-21 |
2012-04-21 |
| 1.6.0.X |
Standard |
2008-10-01 |
2010-05-01 |
2010-10-01 |
| 1.6.1.X |
Standard |
2009-04-27 |
2010-05-01 |
2011-04-27 |
| 1.6.2.X |
Standard |
2009-12-18 |
2011-04-21 |
2012-04-21 |
| 1.8.X |
LTS |
2010-10-21 |
2014-10-21 |
2015-10-21 |
| 10.X |
Standard |
2011-12-15 |
2012-12-15 |
2013-12-15 |
| 11.x |
LTS |
2012-10-25 |
2016-10-25 |
2017-10-25 |
| 12.x |
Standard |
2013-10 (tentative) |
2014-10 (tentative) |
2015-10 (tentative) |
| 13.x |
LTS |
2014-10 (tentative) |
2018-10 (tentative) |
2019-10 (tentative) |
New releases of Asterisk will be made roughly once a year,
alternating between standard and LTS releases. Within a given release
series that is fully supported, bug fix updates are provided roughly
every 4 weeks. For a release series that is receiving only maintenance
for security fixes, updates are made on an as needed basis.
If you're not sure which one to use, choose either the latest release
for the most up to date features, or the latest LTS release for a
platform that may have less features, but will usually be around longer.
