Kong Event Gateway version support policy

The policy only applies to Kong Event Gateway.
See the Kong Gateway support policy and the Konnect support policy for information specific to those products.

Kong adopts a structured approach to versioning its products.
Products follow a pattern of {MAJOR}.{MINOR}.{PATCH}.

For the purposes of this support document:

Versioning:

• Major Version means a version identified by the number to the left of the leftmost decimal point (X.y.z). For example, 2.1.3 indicates Major Version 2 and 1.3.0 indicates Major Version 1.

• Minor Version means a version identified by a change in the number in between the two leftmost decimal points (x.Y.z). For example, 2.1.3 indicates Minor Version 1 and 1.3.0 indicates Minor Version 3.
• Patch Version means a version identified by a change in the number to the right of the rightmost decimal (x.y.Z). Example: 2.1.3 indicates patch version 3.

There is no community edition of Kong Event Gateway, and therefore no difference between enterprise and community patches.

Major version release

Kong introduces major functionality and breaking changes by releasing a new major version. Major releases happen rarely and are usually prompted by:

• major industry shifts,
• significant architectural changes, or
• internal product innovation.

There is no regular cadence of major versions.

Kong aims to release a new minor version approximately every 12 weeks.
Minor versions contain features and bug fixes and are usually backwards compatible within their major version sequence.

Each minor version is supported for 1 year from its release date.
Patches are cumulative (“rolled-up”), meaning that a release such as 3.3.5 includes fixes from 3.3.4, 3.3.3, 3.3.2, and 3.3.1.

Kong may designate a specific minor version as a Long-Term Support (LTS) version.
LTS releases receive full support for the shorter of either:

• 3 years from the LTS release date
• the lifecycle of the underlying distribution.

An LTS version is backwards compatible within its major version and receives all security fixes, as well as select non-security patches at Kong’s discretion.

• Kong Event Gateway does not have an LTS release.
• Each release starting from 1.0 will have a 1-year support period.
• Kong may designate an Kong Event Gateway LTS release in the future.

After the product reaches end of support, Kong provides limited support for up to 12 months to help customers upgrade to a supported version.
During this sunset period:

• No patches are released.
• If an issue requires a patch, customers must upgrade to a newer supported version.

Kong follows a structured process for addressing bugs:

• Security vulnerabilities:
  Treated with highest priority.
  See the security vulnerability policy for reporting and resolution procedures.

• Critical bugs (e.g. production outages or catastrophic degradation):
  Fixed with high-priority patches to the latest major/minor release of all currently supported versions.
  Fixes may be backported at Kong’s discretion.

• Other bugs and feature requests:
  Assessed for severity and impact. Fixes are generally applied only to the latest minor version of the latest major release.

Customers with Enterprise Platinum or higher subscriptions may request special-case fixes outside this process; such requests are evaluated at Kong’s discretion.

From time to time, Kong may deprecate or remove product features as part of Kong Event Gateway’s evolution.

• Kong aims to provide at least 6 months’ notice before removing or phasing out a significant feature.
• Less or no notice may be given if the change is required for security or legal reasons (rare).
• Notices may appear in:
  • Documentation
  • Release notes
  • Product update emails
  • In-product notifications

Once a feature is announced as deprecated, it will not receive new enhancements or extensions.

This policy is a summary and is qualified by the broader Kong Support and Maintenance Policy.