Backporting policy

When we say we “support” a MediaWiki version, what do we mean? This document is an attempt to begin to answer that question by addressing what sort of things will be backported to supported versions.

What versions of MediaWiki are “supported”?

The answer to this can be found on the version lifecycle page. There you can see the introduction of two different sorts of versions: LTS and regular versions.

What is the minimum level of support?

We work with Wikimedia's Senior Security Engineer to make sure that all suppported versions of MediaWiki receive security fixes in a timely manner. To date, this has been handled almost entirely by WMF personnel, but the release management team members stand ready to assist as needed. This is especially likely to be needed for the oldest supported versions.

When will non-security bugs be fixed?

At this point non-LTS versions only get security fixes.

Any backport request will have a decision within two weeks at the latest.

How should flags be used?

See Backporting fixes#Backports to stable/supported release.

Do all backports have to go through this process?

No. Developers who have commit access can use the “Cherry Pick To” button to backport changes without using this process. This policy is so that people without commit access have a way to request fixes to code that they use.