I'm trying to compile information for several clients with regard to what they want to do. Some have relayed to me a preference not to make the move to vB 4 at this time for various reasons. I've read here that if your annual maintenance expires before vb 4.0, you'll still be entitled to the updates on the 3.x path. This would make sense considering that there is no ability to renew your maintenance agreement any more and that primary development is moving towards version 4 and only minor security updates will be issued for 3.x. Can anyone confirm that this is the case?
vb 3.x Security Updates Going forward
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Anyone? This is a very important question to answer. Right now it makes sense that 3.8.x licenseholders get the updates free even if your maintenance expires given the structure and nature of the upgrade switch. -
I can state categorically that vB 3.8 will not be maintained forever and that you will eventually have to upgrade if you want to remain secure. Older versions will not be supported indefinitely.
The quick answer is that there is no exact answer to the question of how long securtiy patches will be made and avaialble. The truth is that we have always provided security patches for older versions whenever feasible to do so. In fact we just released one for vB 3.6.12 a few weeks ago.
Please fill out a support ticket at:
And we will try to get a clearer answer. If we do it will be published on the FAQ page.Steve Machol, former vBulletin Customer Support Manager (and NOT retired!)
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I can state categorically that vB 3.8 will not be maintained forever and that you will eventually have to upgrade if you want to remain secure. Older versions will not be supported indefinitely. The quick answer is that there is no exact answer to the question of how long securtiy patches will be made and avaialble. The truth is that we have always provided security patches for older versions whenever feasible to do so. In fact we just released one for vB 3.6.12 a few weeks ago. Please fill out a support ticket at:
The fact is that all of us will be using 3.8.x for at least the next several months. What happens if a current license holder's maintenance expires in November, December or January? How could this not have been the first question to answer before presenting customers with a 2 week upgrade ultimatum? Without an answer, unfortunately the message reads "you're being forced to pay to upgrade all your forums to the vB 4 suite right now or later - just deal with it and ante up." Perhaps solving this unnecessary confusion may start helping in diffusing the heat that has risen here in the forums. Regardless, I've got 5 days to present my clients with options who aren't quite sure why I shouldn't have them together today.Comment
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I think if vB4 is presented as a new product. The security update for vB3.8 should continue. It is not reasonable to expect for security update for vB2 etc. However vB3.8 is the current release version, it should be the software provider's responsibility to provide minimum security maintainence, instead of forced upgrade.Comment
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I plan on keeping 3.8 on all my forums for at least a few years yet; i still have one that is 3.6 (and they just released a security update for that!). I have renewed them all to take advantage of the discount. It works out cheaper to take the discount; renew them all and not have to pay the annual fee. I can only assume most of those who are whinging are not very good at mathematics.Comment
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Steve - thanks for your answer. You've always been an incredibly dedicated person to the product.
The fact is that all of us will be using 3.8.x for at least the next several months. What happens if a current license holder's maintenance expires in November, December or January? How could this not have been the first question to answer before presenting customers with a 2 week upgrade ultimatum? Without an answer, unfortunately the message reads "you're being forced to pay to upgrade all your forums to the vB 4 suite right now or later - just deal with it and ante up." Perhaps solving this unnecessary confusion may start helping in diffusing the heat that has risen here in the forums. Regardless, I've got 5 days to present my clients with options who aren't quite sure why I shouldn't have them together today.Comment
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If your maintenance agreement runs out you don't have download access and must renew from what I have seen and this is why it remains a question to be answered. I'm waiting for the business week to begin so we can get an official answer at this late date.Comment
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Wrong!
You can and ALWAYS were allowed to download latest patches. You ONLY needed to renew to upgrade to a new version or get the patches installed within the files.
The patches provided on the site, were plugins or files that had to be uploaded.
So, technically you didn't have to renew, although most people did still.
As far as I know, Jelsoft is SUPPOSED to provide patches even if your license is not renewed. Yes, I'm sure there will be a point where they will stop. Eg. vB5 or vB6 comes out.Comment
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Hmm, don't I know you from somewhere? (:
Wrong!
You can and ALWAYS were allowed to download latest patches. You ONLY needed to renew to upgrade to a new version or get the patches installed within the files.
The patches provided on the site, were plugins or files that had to be uploaded.
So, technically you didn't have to renew, although most people did still.
As far as I know, Jelsoft is SUPPOSED to provide patches even if your license is not renewed. Yes, I'm sure there will be a point where they will stop. Eg. vB5 or vB6 comes out.Regards,
Eric Sizemore
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Neither of the licenses in my screenshot are current - in fact, the bottom one's latest available version is 3.6.7 PL1. Security patches that are released are available to all license holders irregardless if you you actually can use the version it patches.Comment
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So what you're saying is that most people probably renewed not realizing they didn't have to renew. Just great. Still, I need to know an official word here on this one issue.Comment
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Now I'm completely confused. So I'm allowed to download the latest patches but they just can't be downloaded in your members section? Now before you tell me I'm wrong so quickly, please explain how someone updates from, let's say 3.7.1 to 3.8.3pl2? I thought that was the point of having a password protected members area.
Regarding patches, you need to make clear what you really mean. An upgrade of the software is something like this: 3.6 -> 3.7, 3.7 -> 3.8. A security patch is not an upgrade. A security patch gets applied to the version you are currently running. If you're running 3.6.12 at the moment and your license is expired, you can download the security patch Steve mentioned from your customer area. This patch will not change the version of the forum software you are running, it will just add a PL1 to it (Patch Level). Those patches have in the past been provided for all security relevant fixes, always for the most current release in a branch (i.e.: there's a patch for 3.6.12, but not for 3.6.4).
Bottom line: A security patch is different from an upgrade of the software, and you need to make clear which one you mean.Comment
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BOTH. At this point it really doesn't matter. What is the status of ANY updates to 3.x going forward and not upgrading to vb4. There are plenty of clients/people who don't want to upgrade until they are ready if at all. Some of our sites are very heavily invested in vb3 and its mods and have a great CMS like Wordpress or Joomla fully integrated. What happens with any updates made going forward to vb3 if your maintenance expires? What if you want to get all the updates until the end of the 3.x product life cycle? Right now the choice given here is to pay up a large $130 or a very large $190 for an upgrade to vb4 suite or... what?Comment
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OK, I guess I'm going to have to take out a support ticket for this. It's just remarkable that there are no answers to this important question. I'd have thought that someone would have had an answer on this issue before setting this alpha pre-sale in motion for 2 weeks.Comment
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