Red Hat Mobile Application Platform – Support for New Versions of Mobile Operating Systems

Overview

This document explains how the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform supports new versions of mobile operating systems.

Introduction

There are constant releases of mobile operating systems by the three major mobile operating system vendors – Apple iOS, Google Android, Microsoft Windows. These changes impact Red Hat Mobile Application Platform in two areas, SDKs and Build Farm.
Red Hat Mobile Application Platform (RHMAP) Software Development Kits (SDKs) provide the software to create mobile apps that include specific RHMAP client features, while the Build Farm is a cloud-based RHMAP component that acts as a build server for mobile client app binaries for native and hybrid iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps. The Build Farm also supports building Apache Cordova cross-platform apps for each of the above mobile operating systems.

Policy

Red Hat has the commitment to provide Red Hat Mobile Application Platform (RHMAP) product updates to support the latest major¹ versions of mobile operating systems in the SDKs and Build Farm, so our developer users can continue to build mobile applications.
Red Hat tests RHMAP with available Beta releases from the operating system vendors in advance of formal releases and intends to provide the necessary updates to SDKs and Build Farm. As mobile operating systems update their versions, Red Hat cannot guarantee that a mobile operating system will not break existing apps, Red Hat issues advisories to customer if breaking changes are identified.

When a mobile operating system vendor releases a new major version of a supported mobile operating system, Red Hat intends to include SDK and Build Farm support for that version in the immediate next release available in the market or communicate publicly if this cannot be achieved due to complexity.

Note that product support for a new version of a mobile operating system is considered a new product feature and there is no guarantee that the support will continue if a vendor makes changes in architecture or licensing policy. Release and timing of any future RHMAP features remains at Red Hat’s sole discretion.

Red Hat will communicate through existing channels and via redhatmobilestatus.com the support for new major versions for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, and inform of any potential issues that would impact existing apps if end user device is upgraded.

An up-to-date list of supported mobile operating system versions is maintained in the Red Hat Mobile Application Platform Supported Configurations document.

This policy is subject to change or withdrawal without notice at the sole discretion of Red Hat.

¹ Software versioning http://semver.org/