Beginning with the Mule Runtime 4.5.0 release on October 3, 2023, MuleSoft will release updates at regular intervals to enable customers to stay on top of changes and take advantage of new capabilities earlier. The new Mule Runtime release cadence aligns with the Salesforce release cycle (February, June, and October release windows), enabling joint customers to plan and manage their upgrades more efficiently across both platforms.

What’s changing with Mule Runtime?

We are transitioning from an ad-hoc release cycle, which historically has been every one to two years, to a regular release cadence of three times each year (Winter, Spring, Summer) that aligns with the Salesforce release cycle. 

Beginning with the 4.5.0 release on October 3, 2023, we are introducing two new release channels, Long-Term Support (LTS) and Edge.

These channels provide customers with flexibility and choice. Customers can use Edge to adopt features earlier with a shorter application lifecycle management timeframe, versus using LTS to leverage new capabilities annually with a longer application lifecycle management timeframe.

Long-Term Support (LTS) Release Channel

LTS versions are released annually every February and incorporate new capabilities introduced in the prior Edge releases. These LTS versions are focused on providing longer application maintenance periods, and once released, these versions will receive regular patches for security vulnerabilities and critical issues. We recommend this channel for mission-critical applications and on-premises runtime deployments.

Mule 4.6 will be the first Long Term Support version under the LTS release channel, set to be released in February 2024.  

Edge Release Channel

Edge versions are released every four months, on a schedule of February, June, and October continuously. This release channel is focused on enabling faster innovation, and once released, will also receive regular patches for security vulnerabilities and critical issues. 

Edge versions will have a shorter support period and will require more frequent upgrades compared to LTS versions. We recommend this release channel for organizations or applications that require the latest features and advancements, and have the resources to manage more frequent upgrades.

The first edge version will be 4.5, which releases on October 3, 2023. 

The table below represents the new version releases along with the new support windows:

Follow the MuleSoft Back Support Policy for updates after the release of Runtime 4.5 on Oct 3, 2024

Monthly patching and version schema

Beginning with Mule 4.5, Mule Runtimes will continue to receive monthly updates across deployment models (CloudHub 1.0, CloudHub 2.0, and Runtime Fabric), but these updates will follow the new versioning scheme mentioned below, rather than the current, date-based versioning. 

The Hybrid Standalone deployment model will move from date-based versioning to semantic versioning, represented as Major.Minor.Patch. This change aligns with industry standards and simplifies version identification.CloudHub 1.0, CloudHub 2.0, and RTF, will use the following versioning schema:

• Major.Minor.Patch:Build (“e” for Edge and ‘blank’ for LTS).

The table below illustrates an example with the 4.5.0 Edge release:

For example, 4.5.0:1e is the version released on October 3, 2023, indicating no patches and the first build of the version for CloudHub 1.0, CloudHub 2.0, and RTF deployment targets. The next monthly patch would be 4.5.1:1e, releasing in November 2023, indicating the first patch and first build of the version.

This format allows us to uniquely identify the complete version, including patch, build numbers, and channel information, making it easier for you to track and manage your Mule Runtime installations and upgrades.

Auto-upgrading

Beginning with Mule Runtime 4.5, MuleSoft will auto-upgrade apps across minor releases in CloudHub, which will allow applications to always be on the latest and standard supported version of Mule Runtime, keeping you at the forefront of innovation and security. 

Upgrades will always be in the same release channel which means apps on a minor LTS version will be auto-upgraded to the latest minor LTS version, and apps on a minor Edge version will be auto-upgraded to the latest minor Edge version. 

For example, after the release of Mule 4.6 Edge, applications running on CloudHub Mule 4.5 Edge will be upgraded automatically to Mule 4.6 Edge. 

Self-upgrade periods for CloudHub 1.0 and 2.0

CloudHub customers are able to leverage the self-upgrade period to test their apps on the next patch or minor release and self-upgrade their apps before MuleSoft auto-upgrades the apps. This enables CloudHub customers to control their app testing and upgrading process based on their business planning windows. 

• Edge: Two weeks before the app is auto-upgraded across minor releases 
• LTS: Two months before the app auto-upgraded across minor releases
  

On-Premises Deployments

RTF (Runtime Fabric) and Hybrid On-Prem apps will not be subject to this automatic upgrade across minor releases.

Conclusion

To summarize, starting with the Mule 4.5 release on October 3, 2023, MuleSoft will be releasing updates during the same timeframe as Salesforce releases through two release channels: Long-Term Support (LTS) and Edge. The LTS versions will be released annually and prioritize longer support windows. Edge versions will be released every four months and focus on faster innovation and new capabilities. MuleSoft will start implementing automatic minor upgrades to the latest Mule Runtime minor version within the same release channel for all CloudHub applications. 

We hope that these changes will give MuleSoft developers greater flexibility and choice, as well as more convenient timeframes for those who work with both MuleSoft and Salesforce platforms.

About the author

Pranjal Tripathi is a Senior Product Manager on the Mule Runtime team. He joined MuleSoft in Feb 2022 and has since managed multiple products, such as core connectors, Mule SDK, DataWeave, and Mule Runtime.