Release Channels

RustCraft has two release channels. Every installation follows exactly one of them.

Channel	Branch	Tags	For
Stable (default)	master	v1.5.0	Live shops with real customers
Beta	beta	v1.6.0-beta.1, v1.6.0-beta.2, …	Test installations, trying new features early

New features are released as a beta first. When a beta has been tested and no serious bugs are open, it becomes the next stable release.

• Stable installations only get stable releases.
• Beta installations get every beta and every stable release, whichever is newer. When v1.6.0 is released, beta installations on v1.6.0-beta.3 update to it as well.

Switching the channel

Settings → System & Updates → Update channel → Stable / Beta, then Check for updates.

Use beta on a separate test installation (e.g. a copy restored from a backup, see Restoring a Backup), not on your live shop: betas can contain bugs, and their database changes cannot be undone.

Back to stable does not downgrade. The shop stays on the installed beta and moves on with the next stable release that is newer than it. To get an older version back, restore a backup made before the beta update (the updater saves one to backups/ before every update).

Older installations

The channel switch needs the updater of v1.5.0 or newer. If System & Updates says the updater is too old, update the shop to the newest stable release first and then rebuild the updater once:

cd /opt/rustwebshop
sudo docker compose up -d --build updater

Without the admin, set the channel in .env (UPDATE_CHANNEL=beta or UPDATE_CHANNEL=stable).

Reporting beta bugs

See Reporting Issues. Please add the beta version to the title.

For maintainers

1. Development happens on beta. Pull requests target beta.
2. Beta release: set VERSION on beta (e.g. 1.6.0-beta.1), commit, then

   git tag -a v1.6.0-beta.1 -m "What is new in this beta"
   git push origin beta --follow-tags

3. Stable release: merge beta into master, set VERSION to 1.6.0, commit, then

   git tag -a v1.6.0 -m "What changed in this release"
   git push origin master --follow-tags

   Afterwards merge master back into beta so both start from the same state.
4. Urgent fixes for the live shop: fix on master, release a patch (v1.6.1), then merge master into beta.