Our General Releases are where we bundle new capabilities, improvements, and most bug fixes—fully tested for reliability. When something truly urgent can’t wait, we’ll publish a small hotfix in between; otherwise, we protect stability by shipping on a predictable, quality‑first cadence.
What is a General Release?
A General Release is a milestone version of Windward System Five that goes through end‑to‑end testing (including full regression checks) before it reaches you. It typically includes:
- New features and enhancements
- Performance and reliability improvements
- Most bug fixes that are safe to roll out together
- A clear release note explaining what’s changed
Why this matters: General Releases deliver value without surprises, helping your teams upgrade with confidence.
Why we prioritize General Releases over frequent patches
Shipping too many small, rushed changes can unintentionally create new issues. Our approach:
- Full test coverage → minimizes the likelihood of unintended issues
- Predictable schedule → easier planning for your teams
- Bundled improvements → fewer, safer upgrades instead of constant patching
We still move quickly when it truly matters (see “Hotfixes” below), but our default is to keep you stable.
What’s inside a General Release
- Features you can adopt immediately (with clear guidance)
- Security and reliability updates validated across environments
- UX refinements and accessibility improvements
- Bug fixes prioritized by customer impact and safety
What’s intentionally not included: unrelated experimental items or risky changes that didn’t meet our quality bar.
How we prepare a General Release (in plain English)
- Plan changes based on customer feedback and data.
- Build features and fixes in daily development.
- Stabilize with full regression testing and cross‑checks.
- Release with clear notes and an easy upgrade path.
- Monitor post‑release health and incorporate learnings.
Release Candidates
A Release Candidate is a version of System Five that’s not yet bundled for General Release. It contains tested fixes and new enhancements, but may not be tested as a whole (i.e., it hasn’t gone through the full end‑to‑end regression suite that General Releases require).
How often?
Release Candidates can appear as frequently as daily, so customers who want early access can evaluate changes sooner.
Why use a Release Candidates?
This is where a new feature you’ve requested will first appear for evaluation. Release Candidates help you preview capabilities, validate fit, and give us targeted feedback before we finalize them in a General Release.
Stability expectations:
- RCs are near‑final and individually tested for the changes they contain.
- Because the entire product isn’t re‑tested as a single bundle, we recommend trying Release Candidates in training or non‑critical environments first, when possible.
Hotfixes (and how they relate to General Releases)
Hotfixes are small, targeted updates we use between General Releases for urgent, high‑impact issues (e.g., outages or critical errors). They’re validated for the specific fix and kept intentionally narrow.
- General Release: Larger, fully tested bundle → predictable stability
- Hotfix: Small, urgent fixes to the General Release→ deployed sparingly to protect stability
- Release Candidate: Tested fixes and new enhancements→ may not be tested as a whole; can occur as frequently as daily
Versioning at a glance:
| General Release | Hotfix to General Release | Release Candidate |
| Even numbered third position of the version. | Even numbered third position of the version. | Odd numbered third position of the version. |
(e.g., 7.0.2.6 → 7.0.4.1) |
(e.g., 7.0.2.5 → 7.0.2.6) |
(e.g., 7.0.3.56 → 7.0.3.57) |
| Advances 3rd position and resets 4th position upon a General Release becoming available | Advances 4th position upon a new hotfix becoming available | Advances fourth position upon new Release Candidate becoming available |
What you can expect on release day
- Clear notes: What changed, why it matters, any actions needed
- Minimal disruption: We aim for smooth, no‑downtime updates
- Compatibility guidance: Any deprecations or breaking changes are flagged early
- Support ready: Our team monitors and helps if questions arise
Example General Release note
General Release 7.0.2.6
Highlights: This release introduces improved performance, enhanced reporting, and new customization options across System Five.
Enhancements: improved database performance metrics, refined inventory integrity checks, and expanded POS device support.
Fixes: address issues in invoice printing, stock transfers, purchase orders, and report accuracy to ensure smoother operations and data reliability.
Action: No required changes for most customers. See “What’s New” for optional feature toggles.
- Default: Move to each General Release to benefit from security, reliability, and improvements that have been fully tested together.
- If you’re on a hotfix: You can stay on it safely; the fix is included in the next General Release, which we recommend adopting when convenient.
- Use Easy Updates: Stay current effortlessly by enabling our Easy Updates tool and setting it to automatically apply General Releases.
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