In mid-2011, the Production Leadership Team (PLT) announced a new release cycle for the Joomla CMS. Rather than a "feature-based" release, which could take years for a new version to be released, the PLT chose a "time-based" release strategy. Additionally, a new version numbering system was adopted to provide standardization to the versions. If you are unfamiliar with this, or simply don't understand it fully, I recommend reading Mark Dexter's article in the Joomla Community Magazine this month. The PLT's development strategy makes it clear that new versions will be released every 6 months and explains the goals behind this strategy. The JED supports this strategy, however it has been a learning experience with new versions being released so quickly in comparison to the former release method.
Currently, you will see the version badges on listings for 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5. While this isn't ideal, it has helped developers and users incrementally move to the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version (2.5.4). This cycle (from 1.5 to 2.5) has given the CLT the opportunity to review, in real-life, how the new cycle affects adoption rates on both Short Term Support (STS) and LTS versions and how best to adapt the JED to these new changes.
The following outlines the way versions will be handled in the JED:
LTS versions will be listed in the directory for 180 days (6 months) after End of Life (EOL).
STS versions will NOT be listed in the directory, instead a "Series" will included both STS and LTS versions - which means that starting with version 3.0 you will see a badge for "Joomla 3x Series" and developers, if they mark that version as available on their listing, will need to ensure that the extension is compatible with the latest release of the series.
This means....
Version 1.5 - Will be listed in the directory for 6 months after it's EOL.
Version 1.6 - Will be removed (see below for more details)
Version 1.7 - Will be removed (see below for more details)
Version 2.5 - Will be listed in the directory for 6 months after it's EOL.
Joomla 3x Series - Will be listed in the directory for 6 months after the EOL of the LTS version in the series (version 3.5)
What happens with 1.6 and 1.7 badges?
The versions of 1.6 and 1.7, still currently in the directory, will be removed as of April 30, 2012. There are still a substantial amount of listings that have not marked 2.5 compatibility and the JED would like to give these developers an opportunity to get caught up. If you have a listing that isn't marked as 2.5 compatible but is marked as 1.6/1.7 compatible, you have until the end of the month to mark 2.5 compatibility
As of April 1, 2012, the JED will only accept listings that are compatible with the latest Joomla STS Version (2.5). You may still mark the extension as 1.5 compatible, but no 1.5, 1.6, 1.7-only listings will be accepted any longer.
What happens with pending listings that are not 2.5 compatible?
These listing submissions will recieve an error code and won't be published until a 2.5 version is available and marked/uploaded on the listing. Please remember that if you mark both 1.5 and 2.5 compatible icons, you must attach both versions to the listing and the download link must point to a page that includes both downloads.
