Astro Runtime maintenance and lifecycle policy
Astro Runtime is a production ready, data orchestration tool based on Apache Airflow that is distributed as a Docker image and is required by all Astronomer products. It is intended to provide organizations with improved functionality, reliability, efficiency, and performance.
Policies define the period that specific Astro Runtime versions are supported and the frequency updates are provided.
Release channels
To meet the unique needs of different operating environments, Astro Runtime versions are associated with the following release channels:
- Stable: Includes the latest Astronomer and Apache Airflow features, available on release
- Long-term Support (LTS): Includes additional testing, stability, and maintenance for a core set of features
Each Astro Runtime version defined as a major.minor pair, such as Runtime version 5.1, is associated with an Astro Runtime stable release channel. The LTS release channel is a subset of the stable release channel and includes additional stability, reliability, and support. For more information on how Astro Runtime is versioned, see Runtime versioning.
For users that want to keep up with the latest Astronomer and Airflow features on an incremental basis, we recommend upgrading to new versions of Astro Runtime as soon as they are made generally available. This should be regardless of release channel. New versions of Runtime are issued regularly and include timely support for the latest major, minor, and patch versions of Airflow.
For customers looking for less frequent upgrades and functional changes, we recommend following the LTS release channel exclusively.
Astro Runtime maintenance policy
The maintenance period for an Astro Runtime version depends on its release channel:
| Release Channel | Maintenance Duration |
|---|---|
| Stable | 6 months or 3 months after the next major Runtime release (whichever is longer) |
| LTS | 18 months |
For each supported major Runtime version, bug fixes are delivered only through new minor.patch versions. If you report an issue with a supported Astro Runtime image that is not on the latest minor.patch version, Astronomer Support might ask that you upgrade your Astro Runtime version to see if that resolves the issue.
For example, if you report an issue occurring on a Deployment running Astro Runtime 9.0.0, Astronomer support might ask you to first upgrade to the latest 9.minor.patch version before troubleshooting your issue any further. If the issue still persists after upgrading, any fixes to that issue will be delivered in a new minor or patch release. Astronomer strives to provide backwards compatibility for all upgrades within the version. For example, you can upgrade directly from 9.0.0 to 9.4.0 and expect no breaking changes unless otherwise stated in documentation.
Within the maintenance window of each Astro Runtime version, the following is true:
- A set of Docker images corresponding to that version are available for download on Quay.io and PyPi.
- Astronomer will regularly publish bug or security fixes identified as high priority.
- Support for paying customers running a maintained version of Astro Runtime is provided by Astronomer Support.
- A user can create a new Deployment with the Astro UI, API, or Astro CLI with any supported
major.minorversion pair of Runtime. For new Deployments, the Astro UI assumes the latest patch.
When the maintenance window for a given version of Runtime ends, the following is true:
- Astronomer is not obligated to answer questions regarding a Deployment that is running an unsupported version.
- The latest version of the Astro CLI will show a warning if a user pushes an Astro Runtime image to Astronomer that corresponds to that version.
Astronomer will not interrupt service for Deployments running Astro Runtime versions that are no longer in maintenance. Unsupported versions of Astro Runtime are available for local development and testing with the Astro CLI.
End of maintenance date
Maintenance is discontinued the last day of the month for a given version. For example, if the maintenance window for a version of Astro Runtime is January - June of a given year, that version will be maintained by Astronomer until the last day of June.
Backport policy for bug and security fixes
When Astronomer identifies a significant bug in Astro Runtime, a fix is backported to all Long Term Support (LTS) versions and the latest stable version. To avoid the impact of previously identified bugs, Astronomer recommends that you upgrade Astro Runtime if you are not using the latest stable version.
When Astronomer identifies a significant security vulnerability in Astro Runtime, a fix is backported and made available as a patch version for all stable and LTS versions in maintenance. A significant security issue is defined as an issue with significant impact and exploitability.
Occasionally, Astronomer might deviate from the defined response policy and backport a bug or security fix to releases other than the latest stable and LTS versions.
Security scan results on Quay.io
Astronomer is aware of the Security Scan Report results that are provided by Project Quay for each Astro Runtime image and are publicly available on Quay.io.
Astronomer monitors the security scan results regularly to determine if any of the vulnerabilities pose a risk to organizations using Astro Runtime. Typically, vulnerabilities found in Astro Runtime are in third-party packages that are installed in Astro Runtime but are not maintained by Astronomer. When a vulnerability is determined to have a high exploitability risk, Astronomer works with vendors to correct it and incorporate a fix into stable and LTS releases of Astro Runtime.
If there is a critical vulnerability in the Security Scan results that causes concern for your organization, contact Astronomer Support.
Astro Runtime lifecycle schedule
The following table contains the exact lifecycle for each published version of Astro Runtime. These timelines are based on the LTS and Stable release channel maintenance policies.
Stable releases
| Runtime Version | Apache Airflow version | Release Date | End of Maintenance Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2.x | 2.2.4-2.2.5 | March 10, 2022 | September 2023 |
| 5.0.x | 2.3.0-2.3.4 | April 30, 2022 | December 2022 |
| 6.0.x | 2.4.0-2.4.2 | September 19, 2022 | March 2024 |
Long-term support (LTS) releases
| Runtime Version | Apache Airflow version | Release Date | End of Maintenance Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.2.x - Latest Patch | 2.2.4-2.2.5 | March 10, 2022 | September 2023 |
| 6.0.x - Latest Patch | 2.4.0-2.4.2 | September 19, 2022 | March 2024 |
Each Runtime version in a given minor series supports only a single version of Apache Airflow. For specific version compatibility information, see Runtime release notes.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact Astronomer support.