Hey Folks!
I’m happy to share that we changed the way we tags some of our images for Ubuntu, Android, and Windows a bit. This was done on the Linux side to share the same tagging convention across images so that they are easier to understand. On the Windows side, to allow users to stick with a stable image for longer than they can now, and for all, to allow users to more easily stay on the most current version of an image, even if it means their builds are less deterministic.
Starting today, Ubuntu, Android, and Windows images have the following tag types available:
-
YYYY.MM.R- these are the date-based snapshot tags. The format is the 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and the incrementing release integer that month. For example, for the images released this month, the release tag was2022.04.1. A second release in a month is rare. This is usually only if there’s a major security or bug fix for that image. In that case, a hypothetical second release this month would be2022.04.2. Date-based tags are the most deterministic and stable. For most users, this is the recommended tag type to use. -
current- this is an alias/rolling tag. This tag will always point to the most recent, or current date-based tag. For Ubuntu, this month it points to2022.04.1but when the next release comes out in July, it will point to2022.07.1. This tag is for users who want to stay on a newer image with less config changes. The trade off is stability. As the image updates overtime, occasionally software and default versions of that software might change. If you’re okay with that, use this tag type. If you want more stability, please use a date-based tag. -
edge- this is a beta or testing level tag. This tag is used to test out changes, sometimes major changes, to images before those changes edge up in a stable date-based tag release.
The Ubuntu Linux VM (machine), Windows VM, Android VM, and Android Convenience Image all use this tagging naming convention moving forward.