OK, all users of Topic List Previews, please take note below.
How to safely update when using our plugins:
Pavilion’s update schedule
Topic List Previews is one of the Pavilion family of open source plugins.
Going forward, Pavilion will focus on ensuring compatibility of a core set of its plugins with Discourse Core tests-passed branch during the first 5 days of every month only.
Any bugs which arise because of an incompatibility will be addressed asap during this ‘supported period’, preferably by the 7th day. Low severity or Beta feature bugs may not be addressed by this date, but obvious things which are ‘breaking’ a forum should be resolved.
This new policy will come into effect 1st May 2020
Why we are introducing this policy
We have no control over changes in Discourse core. That is how it should be. However, as our plugins have grown and become more sophisticated, it is getting more and more burdensome to guarantee they are working with every update of Discourse. It’s becoming untenable to ensure immediate compatibility is maintained.
To give our developers breathing room so they can attend to other priorities in addition to plugin support we will no longer be guaranteeing compatibility with Discourse every day of the month.
This policy should also help you achieve more stability and give you more certainty over when you can more safely update.
How to perform your update
Aim to update your Production Discourse instance (both Discourse core and our plugins) in the first 5 days of every month. Notify us on the relevant Plugin Topic on Meta of any issues you encounter. You will get more focussed support from the Pavilion team on any issues with their plugins during this period.
You update your Production server outside of the first 5 days of the month at your own risk. If you do so and something breaks related to one of our plugins, we urge you to report it and in addition, and if appropriate, uninstall our plugin until it is resolved. Unfortunately we may not get around to fixing it until the next supported period at the beginning of the following month.
For even greater safety
Consider testing your update on your own staging server built from a back-up of your production site. This is especially important if your site is large, popular and/or part of a business.
You can switch this server off for the rest of the month so you don’t get charged for up-time. Use this opportunity to test out all basic functionality to identify any issues with plugins. Report all critical and high issues asap on the relevant plugin topic.
Using a staging site may allow you to have more discretion over when you update, but be aware of the relative lack of support in the latter part of the month.
Thanks for your understanding!
(we will be shortly adding this policy note to all our core plugins and I’ve added it to the OP of this Topic).