Semantic versioning
Beaver Builder product updates adhere to a semantic version numbering system consisting of four number positions, where each position corresponds to a particular type of release. Using Beaver Builder version2.5.4.3 as an example:
- The Major Milestone is represented by the number
2 - The Major version is denoted by
.5 - The Minor version is indicated by
.4 - The Patch version is symbolized by
.3
Major milestone
Mark a substantial improvement in the product. They contain significant new features, redesign of the user interface, or new developer features, while maintaining backward compatibility. Beaver Builder major milestone releases go through alpha and beta testing. The production release date depends on the point at which the version is considered stable enough to use and support.During a Major Milestone or Major Update releases, remote updates within your WordPress Admin Dashboard are temporarily unavailable. To update to the latest major version, you must manually download the corresponding zip file from your Beaver Builder account. Once downloaded, you can install the new version by replacing the existing one on your website.This manual update process ensures that any bugs or issues can be resolved before enabling remote updates in the WordPress Admin Dashboard. Typically, remote updates become available a few weeks after the initial Major Milestone or Major Update releases.
Major update
Contain enhancements (such as new settings or new actions and filters for developers) plus bug fixes. Beaver Builder major releases also go through alpha and beta testing, and the production release date depends on the point at which the product is considered stable enough to use and support.Minor updates
Contain bug fixes and possibly minor enhancements. The need for a minor update is reviewed at the beginning of each month and, if deemed necessary, the release occurs at the end of the month.Patches
Contain important bug fixes that affect product functionality or security and warrant an immediate release. Patches are released as needed. Each new release increases its version number position sequentially while resetting the following numbering positions to zero. For example, the next release after 2.1 could be 2.1.1 (a new minor update), 2.2 (a new major update) or 3.0 (a new major milestone release).Alpha, beta, & dev releases
The development process for major updates to the Beaver Builder plugin and theme includes an alpha release, beta release, and the final stable release. If you are interested in trying out the new features for the next release and want to test and provide feedback, we encourage you to try out alpha and beta releases.Both the alpha and beta releases may contain multiple minor updates (for example 2.0-alpha.3 and 2.0-alpha.4) until we are comfortable moving forward to the next stage in the release cycle.Before you decide to test out an alpha or beta release, please read the following sections so you know what to expect.
Alpha releases
Alpha releases are very early versions of the next major update. They may be made available months before the beta release. They typically receive minimal testing by our team and have the potential to be unstable or be missing features planned for the first stable release. When you report bugs and provide feedback on new features during the alpha release, we can catch bugs more quickly and improve features based on user feedback before the final stable release. Look at the change log during the alpha release stage for a list of what is available in each alpha version.Beta releases
Beta releases are early versions of the next major update. They follow the alpha release and are typically made available 2 to 4 weeks before the final stable release. They have been thoroughly tested by our team, but may still contain bugs that need to be fixed. During the beta release stage, there is a freeze on any new code, aside from what’s needed to fix remaining bugs. This means that aside from bugs, any feedback on new features during the beta stage will be held until the next major update. There will typically be a post on our blog announcing the first beta release.Install alpha or beta releases
Beaver Builder alpha or beta releases can be installed by enabling the Prerelease Updates option in the Beaver Builder settings.Bug reports & feedback
If you run into any bugs or notice something that can be improved during your testing, please submit a Support ticket under the category Alpha/Beta Feedback.Dev releases (pre-alpha)
The dev releases use the-dev suffix and are earlier and rougher than an alpha releases, in that they can contain incomplete features for testing, may introduce breaking changes, and almost certainly contain bugs. It’s a great chance for early adopters to try out new features in a dev environment and give us early feedback.
In contrast, the alpha/beta releases are better documented, don’t introduce any breaking changes, and contain most if not all of the features the final release will have.
We expect you to know your way around WordPress and be able to install Beaver Builder into test environments. Dev releases are available for download in the same location as alpha and beta releases on the My Account page. Once you manually install a dev release, it will automatically update when new versions are issued.