Here’s a question I got today over email:
I’m having a hard time figuring out which version I should be using. I’m currently running PhotoStructure as a docker container. I am using the “beta” tag in the docker compose file. Is that correct?
TL;DR: Please do not run beta builds unless:
-
you have frequent, automatic backups of your data, and
-
you’re willing to report bugs that you see to either discord or this forum.
If you’re unsure, please use stable
PhotoStructure’s release pipeline
It’s no fun to run buggy software! Unfortunately, every time software is changed (either to add features or to fix bugs), those changes may introduce new, unexpected defects.
We try to shield these defects from most of our users by refining each release via a release “pipeline” that has 2 phases:
beta → stable
(In releases before 2026, we had “alpha” builds, but we’re simplifying things).
Upgrades are easy. Downgrades, not so much.
Know that switching to a newer version is a “one-way trip” for a library. You can always rebuild your library from scratch, but that can take a while and be inconvenient.
TL;DR: Many users “kick the tires” with a test library with a few hundred photos or videos, rather than upgrading their full library (especially with beta builds), specifically to avoid “full rebuild” events.
What’s a beta build?
Beta versions have the word “beta” in them: like v1.2.0-beta.3.
A beta build should run, but may be unstable.
We expect that most users can use the product, but there may be show-stopping bugs with some system configurations.
Announcements with installation instructions and release notes for these builds are made to this forum and discord.
When the latest beta build seems to be stable and show-stopping bugs have been addressed, we “release” the final build for that version and tag it with stable. We also push this stable build to beta, to make sure everyone is running the latest stable version.
stable build
A stable build is recommended for most users. When defects are found, we’ll try to fix them in the next build.
Announcements with installation instructions and release notes for new versions are made to the email subscription, here in the forum, and discord.