> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.scanoss.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Releases and Release Notes

> How Earnie releases are published, which release to run on a self-hosted installation, where to read the release notes, how to turn on the release check, and how long a release is supported.

This page applies when you host Earnie yourself. It explains which release to install, where its release notes are, how to hear about a new release, and how long SCANOSS supports it. To install a release, see [Upgrading and backing up](https://docs.scanoss.com/en/latest/earnie/self-hosting/upgrading-and-backups.md#upgrade).

## Weekly Releases and the Stable Channel

SCANOSS publishes a release every week. Each has a version number, `vX.Y.Z`. SCANOSS's own hosted Earnie takes each one.

A self-hosted installation upgrades about once a month, to a **stable** release. A stable release is a weekly release that has run on SCANOSS's own hosted Earnie for one or two weeks without problems.

Stable is a label, not a separate build. A stable release keeps its `vX.Y.Z` tag, its images, and its bundle, and stable releases have no numbering of their own. Pin the version you install.

You can install any weekly release instead, without the support guarantees below.

To read the current stable version:

```bash theme={null}
curl -fsSL https://get.earnie.dev/server/stable
```

To install it:

```bash theme={null}
curl -fsSL https://get.earnie.dev/server/install.sh | EARNIE_VERSION="$(curl -fsSL https://get.earnie.dev/server/stable)" sh
```

Without `EARNIE_VERSION`, the installer command installs the newest release.

## Release Notes

Release notes for each stable release are in three places:

| Where | What |
| - | - |
| `https://github.com/scanoss/dist/releases` | One entry for each stable release, titled `Earnie vX.Y.Z (stable)`. A stable release that carries a security fix is titled `Earnie vX.Y.Z (stable, security)`. |
| `https://github.com/scanoss/dist/releases.atom` | The same entries as an Atom feed. Subscribe in a feed reader to hear about each stable release and each security patch. |
| `https://get.earnie.dev/server/vX.Y.Z/notes.md` | The notes for one release, with the images it uses and the changes since the previous stable. |

The changes section is written for the person who upgrades. It lists:

* the weekly releases since the previous stable;
* the upgrade steps, with a **Review before upgrading** list when a setting was removed or changed its default, or when a release adds a database migration;
* the `tenant.env` settings that were added, changed, or removed, with the comment for each added setting;
* every new database migration, with its SQL;
* new outbound destinations, when a new or changed setting names a host. See [Outbound network calls](https://docs.scanoss.com/en/latest/earnie/self-hosting/outbound-network-calls.md);
* dependency and toolchain updates;
* security fixes.

The security fixes list only the changes that SCANOSS marked as security fixes, so an empty list isn't a guarantee. Read the weekly releases it names if you need to be sure.

## The Release Check

Earnie can tell your administrators in the inbox when a newer stable release exists. This **release check** is off by default. Until you turn it on, Earnie makes no call to `get.earnie.dev`, and no stable-release notification is recorded.

To turn it on:

1. Set `EARNIE_RELEASE_CHECK_OPT_IN=true` in `tenant.env`.
2. Run `./install.sh` again from the bundle directory.

When it's on, Earnie asks once when it starts, and then every 24 hours, for the current stable version, from `https://get.earnie.dev/server/stable`. When that version is newer than the one you run, administrators get one **Release available** notification in the inbox. A later day doesn't repeat it, and several API replicas record one. A development build doesn't check.

The request is a plain `GET`. It carries the running version in its `User-Agent`, as `earnie/vX.Y.Z`, and nothing else: no API key, cookie, tenant name, or installation id.

* **No outbound access.** A host with no outbound access can still turn the check on. The request fails, Earnie logs it at INFO level, and records nothing.
* **A mirror.** To read the version from a mirror, set `EARNIE_RELEASE_CHECK_URL` to its address.
* **The old setting.** Earnie no longer reads `EARNIE_RELEASE_CHECK_ENABLED`, and logs a warning while it is set. Earnie 0.4.8's installer wrote that setting into every upgraded `tenant.env`, whether or not you chose it, so an old `true` doesn't opt you in. Delete the line, and set `EARNIE_RELEASE_CHECK_OPT_IN=true` if you want the check.

## Security Fixes

There are no patch branches and no separate patch numbers. A fix goes into the next release. SCANOSS promotes that release to stable as soon as its upgrade test passes, without the usual week or two on its own hosted Earnie. The feed entry for a stable release with a security fix is titled **(stable, security)**.

## Support Window

SCANOSS supports the current stable release and the previous one. A stable release leaves support when the second stable release after it is promoted. If you run a supported stable release, you get a fix by upgrading to the stable release that carries it.

## What's Next

To install a release, back up first. See [Upgrading and backing up](https://docs.scanoss.com/en/latest/earnie/self-hosting/upgrading-and-backups.md).


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