Updates to our release practices to prepare for continuous deployment

Following up on our changes to support Jira Align version 11.X, we’re announcing additional enhancements to our release practices. These updates will provide us with more ways to ensure code quality and fix issues quickly, while giving you better access to release contents.

We’re also making these changes to prepare for continuous deployments of Jira Align, which will allow us to rapidly ship bug fixes as soon as they’re ready, instead of waiting for a Friday release.

Review this announcement to understand how to quickly find details on what we release each cycle, and how to get real-time notifications for bug fixes you care about.

• Now: Updated timing for on-premise releases
• Now: A single article for release notes and a streamlined calendar
• Soon: Continuous deployment for bug fixes
• How to prepare

Now: Updated timing for on-premise releases

Beginning with 11.7.X, on-premise release versions will be available for download one week later. This shift allows us to include fixes for any bugs discovered during a version’s entire life cycle, before code is delivered to on-premise environments.

• On-premise environments will receive a new version 19 days after the version is shipped to production environments.
• New on-premise versions will continue to be provided on Wednesdays.

Now: A single article for release notes and a streamlined calendar

Also beginning with 11.7.X, you can find all information about a version's features, improvements, and fixes in one location.

• All contents of a feature release and its subsequent maintenance, bug fix, and hotfix releases will be contained in a single article, such as Release notes for 11.6.X.
  • As new fixes are delivered each week, we’ll continue adding this information to the bug fixes section of the page.
• We will no longer create standalone articles for bug fix and hotfix releases.
• The feature release notes section in Help will be renamed release notes.
• The bug fix release notes section in Help will be retired sometime in 2025.
  • Any bug fixes added to major versions 11.X and later can be found in the corresponding release notes article.
• Any release schedule changes, rollbacks, or other important updates that require a separate article with notifications will be posted in our announcements section.

Now that all release contents can be found in a single article, we will no longer include entries in the release calendar for optional bug fix and hotfix releases. Use the calendar to focus on planned deployments and quickly access a release notes article for a specific version.

Soon: Continuous deployment for bug fixes

Sometime in early 2025, we’ll begin deploying bug fix releases as soon as a new version is ready. We may release as often as once per day, getting fixes into your environments quickly. We’ll make an announcement with more details when this change is ready to launch.

Only fixes and critical changes will be contained in these continuous deployments. New features and planned changes will continue to be delivered on our current cadence, using our Friday maintenance window.

How to prepare

No action is required for these current and upcoming changes. However, you can prepare for continuous deployment by adopting the following practices now:

• Subscribe: Make sure you’re getting notifications of new release notes and announcement articles by subscribing to the release notes and announcements sections in Help.
• Review: You can get a recap of what we’ve deployed each week by visiting the latest release notes article. We’ll update the contents of articles each Friday when there are reportable changes.
  • Look for “Last updated:” at the top of each release notes article and at the top of the bug fixes section to see when additions were last made.
• Watch: If you’re affected by a particular bug, view the issue at jira.atlassian.com (JAC), and select the Start watching this issue link in the upper-right corner. This will notify you of any changes, including deployment of the fix. We’ve enhanced JAC with a connector to our development environments, providing real-time updates the moment a version containing a specific fix is deployed.