Change in the Versioning Policy for Java Components

[Chad La Joie]

Some of you may be aware of our current versioning policy[1] for our
Java code.  Starting with the next major release of the various
products (e.g. IdPv3, Aggregator v1, CDS v2) we will be adding the
following policy regarding library versioning.

We will not change the version of 3rd party libraries between patch
releases of a given minor release (e.g. no changes between v1.1.3 and
v1.1.4), unless there is a specific need[2] to do so.  We may, as we
see fit, upgrade libraries when we release a new minor or major
version.

The result of this is that between patch releases your extensions will
have a more stable environment.  Between minor releases, our public
APIs will continue to be forward compatible but we can't make any such
claims about 3rd party APIs.  So if you have an extension that relies
on 3rd party APIs you'll need to test with the new minor release to
make sure everything continues to work as expected.

[1] http://shibboleth.internet2.edu/java-versioning.html
[2] Examples of "specific need" would be a security vulnerability or a
bug in the library that causes our code to fail
-- 
Chad La Joie
www.itumi.biz
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