This initiative is designed to provide ongoing security and stability for organizations using older versions of Mautic, allowing you to maintain a secure and efficient environment without the immediate need to upgrade.

Why Choose ELTS?

As technology evolves, so do the security challenges that come with it. Our ELTS program ensures that your older Mautic versions continue to receive critical security updates after official security support has ended. This extended support is perfect for businesses that need more time to plan and execute their migration to newer versions without compromising on security or functionality.

Key Benefits of the ELTS Program

• Receive back-ported security fixes for older Mautic versions for up to two years after official security support has ended, ensuring your systems remain protected against vulnerabilities.
• Upgrade in your own time, extending your return on investment by allowing you up to five years of active support for each version of Mautic
• Flexible terms to suit your organization – choose from one or two year blocks, allowing you to plan according to your timelines.
• Discounts available for members of Mautic, and volume discounts for large numbers of instances.

How to Sign Up

Signing up for the ELTS program is straightforward. You can opt for either a one-year or two-year support block, providing flexibility to match your business requirements. Here’s how you can get started:

1. Head over to our ELTS page for detailed information about the program and pricing.
2. Select the option that best suits your needs – whether it’s a one-year or two-year term – and your membership level. Not yet a member? Check out our membership tiers. NOTE: Purchases on Open Collective visibly show the organization or individual purchasing. If you prefer to keep this confidential, fill out the form on the landing page and we’ll be in touch with how to process the payment anonymously as a guest.
3. Got questions? Fill out the form and the team will be in touch right away.
4. Get Started: Our team will contact you to finalize the setup and ensure you’re ready to benefit from our extended long term support services.

We invite all Mautic users to consider the benefits of our ELTS program. Whether you’re managing a small business or a large enterprise, extended support can provide the peace of mind you need to focus on what matters most – growing your business.

For any questions or further information, please feel free to reach out to us via the enquiry form or by email direct at elts@mautic.org. You can also join the conversation in our Slack channel, #elts.

Thank you for your continued support and trust in Mautic. We look forward to serving you through our ELTS program!

We’ve listened to a lot of feedback from across the community and we have decided to slightly adjust our release strategy to better streamline our processes without stifling innovation.

Our goals with this updated release strategy are:

• Predictable releases which are on-time 
• Ensure Mautic is always up to date with releases from our major dependencies
• Rapid release of bug fixes and new features when fully tested and reviewed
• Longer support periods for major versions, with minor releases for 12 months followed by a long period of feature stability

 In summary, we will:

• Move to a 24-month release cycle between major releases, which is aligned with that of Symfony – Mautic’s primary dependency and underlying framework
• Move to time-based releases (from a mix of time and feature based)
• Extend support for each Major version so that it’s supported for at least 18 months
• Continue with monthly patch (bug-fix) releases during the active support period
• Provide one security release each quarter during the active and security support period, where fixes are ready to release (and any urgent out-of-cycle releases as deemed necessary by the Security Team)

Below you will find a detailed explanation of our new release strategy.

Establishing a Long Term Support (LTS) version

To date Mautic has never had an official Long Term Support (LTS) version – we continually shipped feature releases quarterly until a new release was out, and then we stopped supporting the previous version within a matter of months. 

This is painful for businesses with complex installations or agencies supporting large numbers of versions, because:

• They want stability more than continuous change, and 
• They need time to test and update the new Major release for their instances (and sometimes have to wait for third party plugins to be available and mature) however bug fixes are no longer provided for their current versions.

Now, we’re going to ensure that the previous version of Mautic is supported for at least six months after the General Availability release of the next Long Term Support version.

Generally speaking after Mautic 6.0 (which is a special series – more on that later) the Long Term Support version will be the *.3 release of any series, unless there is some unexpected need to issue more minor releases.

For example, Mautic 7.3 will be the LTS release in the 7.x series, and that will receive bug fix updates through until the end of 2026 when it will then receive security fixes for another year.

This means that going forward each release series will eventually be actively supported for at least three years from the General Availability release, when you consider active support and security support.

Establishing an Extended Long Term Support (ELTS) program

Following debate within the community, an Extended Long Term Support (ELTS) program is being developed which aims to launch in Q1 2025. This will see us offering a paid service which provides subscribers with security fixes for an additional period of two years (paid in annual subscriptions) from the end of security support, after which that release series reaches End of Life.

The ELTS will be an annual subscription which is paid at the beginning of the calendar year for the following 12 months, on a per-instance basis. More details on this will be released by the ELTS working group in due course.

Establishing a clearly defined release cadence

In the past we had aimed to release at the end of the month on the last Monday, but recently this has become more sporadic as we fell into the trap of trying to get specific features or bug fixes merged into a release, resulting in delays. 

Now, we’re going to move to a strictly time-based release process. Whatever is ready, tested, documented and merged on release day will be included in the release. Everything else will have to wait for a later release. The Product Team will continue to have a bounties fund which they can use to incentivize fixing specific bugs which need to be addressed and where there isn’t existing interest.

Major releases have a clearly documented Alpha, Beta and Release Candidate feature freeze – if features are not ready, they will not be considered for that release. Minor releases will have a Release Candidate freeze the month prior to release and no further features will be considered after this date.

We will also ensure that the second release in a quarter is a security release where there are security fixes ready to be released. This gives Mautic users more clarity on when to expect these fixes to come over, and also means the security team are primed with clear dates in mind to get their work deployed to Mautic users.

Catching up with Symfony releases

Since Mautic 3 we’ve been playing catch up with Symfony releases, which has meant that Mautic has only just managed to deploy a new version before security support ends for a series of Symfony releases. This is quite painful for larger businesses who require their software to be running on actively supported versions, and it also puts a great deal of pressure on the Product Team to cram a lot of changes into a release with very tight deadlines.

We are planning to address this in a couple of ways:

1. We will make Mautic 6.0 – which supports Symfony 6.x – a ‘bridging release’ which will only be supported for 21 months from the General Availability release, plus one year of ELTS support rather than two.
    
   • Mautic 6.0 General Availability will be released in Q1 2025
      
   • This will be the LTS version of Mautic 6.x – there won’t be any other feature releases in this series, only patch releases
      
   •  Mautic 6.x will become End of Life after 12 months of ELTS support, in October 2027, with Symfony 6.x being End of Life in November 2027.
      
2. After 6.0 is released, all future features will be on the 7.x branch
   • Mautic 7.x will support Symfony 7.x 
   • Mautic 7.3 will be the LTS version
   • Security support ends at the end of 2027

ELTS support will extend until the end of 2029, when both Mautic 7 and Symfony 7 will reach end of life.

Sponsored releases

The biggest blocker for Mautic’s ability to sustain its progress is having the resources to lead and support releases.

Going forward, we will have the option for companies and organizations to sponsor a release, which means their logos and links will be prominently linked on the release notes and the website, along with all communications associated with the release.

In exchange, they can either fund or provide in kind the services of a developer who will work with the release team, moving that release through from planning to deployment.

Conclusion

To wrap up, we’re really looking forward to implementing this new release strategy to better serve our community. By moving towards a 24-month release cycle, focusing on time-based releases and extending support for each major version, we’re taking steps towards a more predictable, stable future for Mautic from which all benefit.

The introduction of an official Long Term Support (LTS) version and providing a paid-for Extended Long Term Support (ELTS) program demonstrates our commitment to providing greater stability for those users who require it, without sacrificing innovation.

By catching up and keeping pace with Symfony releases, we can ensure we’re always providing the latest technology and features while removing technical debt, ensuring Mautic is using the latest versions of the secure and modern framework on which we depend.

We’re confident that these changes will help to streamline our processes, enhance our product and inspire future growth and innovation. This is an exciting new chapter in Mautic’s journey and we’re looking forward to embarking on this journey together with our community. Here’s to a bright future for Mautic!

This initiative is designed to provide back-ported security fixes for earlier versions of Mautic that are no longer under active and security support. However, to ensure that this program meets your needs and expectations, we are seeking your valuable input and feedback.

What is an ELTS Program?

The ELTS program would involve an annual fee, in return for which Mautic would provide back-ported security fixes to older versions of the software. This service is aimed at helping organizations that rely on older versions of Mautic maintain a secure environment without the immediate need to upgrade to the latest version.

Examples of Existing ELTS Programs

To give you an idea of how such programs work in other open source projects, here are some examples:

• TYPO3 Extended Support
• Ubuntu Extended Security Maintenance
• Red Hat Extended Lifecycle Support
• Debian Extended LTS
• Joomla Extended Support (RFP)
• Drupal 7 Extended Support
• MongoDB Enterprise Advanced Support Plans
• Percona Post-MySQL 5.7 EOL Support
• AngularJS Extended LTS
• CiviCRM ESR

We Need Your Input

To create an ELTS program that truly benefits our community, we need your feedback on several key aspects. Consider the following questions and share your thoughts with us. Feel free to share any other ideas you might have – the questions are just a starting point!

Service Expectations

• What specific features and services would you expect from an ELTS program?
• How important is it for your organization to receive back-ported security fixes for older versions of Mautic?
• What versions of Mautic would you expect to be supported?

Operational Models

• How do you think the ELTS program should operate?
• Should Mautic have a dedicated paid team to work on back-ports and apply patches?
• Should Mautic provide a private repository with patches for users to apply themselves?
• Should Mautic issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) and allow single or multiple providers to offer the service?

Implementation and Management

• What would be the most critical factors for you in choosing to subscribe to the ELTS program?
• How frequently would you expect updates and patches to be released?

Additional Thoughts

• Are there any other considerations or suggestions you have for the ELTS program?

How to Provide Your Input

The call for input will be open until the 13th September. We encourage all community members to share their views and suggestions. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us design a program that meets your needs and supports the continued security and stability of Mautic.

Ways to Submit Your Input

• Comment: Join the discussion on the consultation
• Email: For private inquiries, email us at elts@mautic.org (please use the comment method by default).
• Slack: Join the discussion in the #ELTS channel for general chat about this project (get an invite) and join #wg-elts to join the working group.

Thank you for your time and contributions. Together, we can create a robust and effective ELTS program that benefits the entire Mautic community.