EPiServer is currently releasing updates according to the “continuous release” approach. I think this is a nice approach as the customer can take advantage of the new features without having to go through large migration projects.
However a problem occurs when you are using official add-ons with EPiServer and the add-ons don’t use the same release approach as EPiServer.
We are currently migrating an external web and an intranet solution. Both are using add-ons.
The intranet is locked in EPiServer 7.5 because of compatability with one of the add-ons. Another add-on had to be downgraded, though it should work in EPiServer 8, because of the first add-on.
The external web is developed in EPiServer version 8.9(?) but it’s sharing data with the intranet through one of the add-ons, more specifically the add-on’s database is shared between to two sites.
This poses an interesting problem… Because of the dependency graph and add-ons not releasing compatability fixes in the same frequency as EPiServer themselves, the external web might be downgraded as well because of the first plugin installed in the intranet.
This blog post is aimed to highlight this problem and raise the question if the official plugin vendors should be forced to use a shorter release cycle to keep up with EPiServer. That way we can focus on building user oriented web solutions rather handling a migration hazard caused by official add-ons not being up to date.
