Finding what version of Discourse you're using

Documentation Using Discourse
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:bookmark: This guide explains how to find the version of Discourse you’re using by inspecting the website’s source code.

:person_raising_hand: Required user level: All users

Understanding what version of Discourse you are using can be important for troubleshooting, ensuring compatibility with plugins, and staying up-to-date. Here are the steps you can follow to determine the version of Discourse running on a given site.

Summary

This guide will cover:

  • Viewing the source code of a Discourse site
  • Locating the version metadata
  • Understanding the version string

Viewing the source code

  1. Visit the target Discourse site in your web browser.
  2. Press the “view source” button in your web browser. The method varies between browsers:
    • In Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page to bring up a context menu and select “View Page Source”.
    • In Firefox, right-click and select “View Page Source”.
    • In Edge, right-click and select “View Page Source”.
      view-source-chrome

Locating the version metadata

Look for the meta version tag near the top of the source under the <head> section. It will look something like this:

<meta name="generator" content="Discourse 2.2.0.beta5 - https://github.com/discourse/discourse version 4831c4c2eeef9124fd4bed6d63f26a8e55b6b9c9">

Understanding the version string

From the meta tag:

  • The version Discourse 2.2.0.beta5 indicates if you are on a beta (latest) or a release (previous) version.

    • Betas: Most installations, including all official Discourse hosting, are betas which get new releases every few weeks.
    • Releases: Full releases come at most every 6 months and are a bit more conservative.

  • The specific internal version is referenced by the string at the end:

    https://github.com/discourse/discourse version 4831c4c2eeef9124fd4bed6d63f26a8e55b6b9c9

    Take the first 7 characters of the version (4831c4c in this example) and browse github.com/discourse/discourse/commits/main to find the commit that correlates to the version in the meta tag.

You can also search directly using the full version hash:

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/search?q=hash%3A4831c4c2eeef9124fd4bed6d63f26a8e55b6b9c9&type=Commits

Example output

image
image1472×784 93.9 KB

This will show you how far behind the main branch your current version is.

Last edited by @hugh 2024-06-20T01:40:00Z

Last checked by @hugh 2024-06-17T10:39:29Z

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