Rolling release

Rolling release,also known asrolling updateorcontinuous delivery,is a concept insoftware developmentof frequently delivering updates to applications.This is in contrast to astandardorpoint releasedevelopment model which usessoftware versionswhich replace the previous version. An example of this difference would be the multiple versions ofUbuntu Linuxvis-à-visthe single and constantly updated version ofArch Linux.

Model

Rolling release development models are one of many types ofsoftware release life cycles.Although a rolling release model can be used in the development of any piece or collection of software, it is most often seen in use byLinux distributions,notable examples beingGNU Guix System,Arch Linux,Gentoo Linux,openSUSE Tumbleweed,PCLinuxOS,Solus,SparkyLinux,andVoid Linux.Some modernDistributed SQLdatabases such asYugabyteDBalso support this feature.

A rolling release is typically implemented using small and frequentupdates.However, simply having updates does not automatically mean that a piece of software is using a rolling release cycle; for this, the philosophy of developers must be to work with onecodebranch as opposed to discrete versions. When the rolling release is employed as the development model,software updatesare typically delivered to users by apackage manageron the user'spersonal computer,accessing through theinterneta remotesoftware repository(often via adownload mirror) stored on an internetfile server.

See also

• Continuous delivery