65 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
65 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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stage: Systems
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group: Distribution
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info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
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---
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# Support for Experiment, Beta, and Generally Available features **(PREMIUM)**
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Some GitLab features are released as Experiment or Beta versions and are
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[not fully supported](https://about.gitlab.com/support/statement-of-support/#alpha-beta-features).
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All other features are considered to be Generally Available (GA).
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## Experiment
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Support is not provided for features listed as "Experimental" or "Alpha" or any similar designation. Issues regarding such features should be opened in the GitLab issue tracker.
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- Not ready for production use.
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- No support available.
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- May be unstable or have performance issues.
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- Can be removed at any time.
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- Data loss may occur.
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- Documentation may not exist or just be in a blog format.
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- Behind a feature flag that is on by default and the [UI reflects Experiment status](https://design.gitlab.com/usability/feature-management#highlighting-feature-versions).
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- Behind a toggle that is off by default and the [UI reflects Experiment status](https://design.gitlab.com/usability/feature-management#highlighting-feature-versions).
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- Feedback issue to engage with team.
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- UX not finalized, might be just quick action access.
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- Not announced in a release post.
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## Beta
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Commercially-reasonable efforts are made to provide limited support for features designated as "Beta," with the expectation that issues require extra time and assistance from development to troubleshoot.
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- May not be ready for production use and the UI and documentation will reflect this status.
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- May be unstable and can cause performance and stability issues.
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- Configuration and dependencies unlikely to change.
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- Features and functions unlikely to change. However, breaking changes may occur outside of major releases or with less notice than for Generally Available features.
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- Data loss not likely.
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- Support on a commercially-reasonable effort basis.
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- Documentation reflects Beta status.
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- UX complete or near completion.
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- Behind a feature flag that is on by default and the [UI reflects Beta status](https://design.gitlab.com/usability/feature-management#highlighting-feature-versions).
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- Behind a toggle that is off by default and the [UI reflects Beta status](https://design.gitlab.com/usability/feature-management#highlighting-feature-versions).
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- Can be announced in a release post that reflects Beta status.
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## Generally Available (GA)
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Generally Available features means that they passed the [Production Readiness Review](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/gl-infra/readiness/-/blob/master/.gitlab/issue_templates/production_readiness.md) for GitLab.com, and are:
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- Ready for production use at any scale.
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- Fully documented and supported.
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- UX complete and in line with GitLab design standards.
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## Never internal
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Features are never internal (GitLab team-members) only.
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Our [mission is "everyone can contribute"](https://about.gitlab.com/company/mission/), and that is only possible if people outside the company can try a feature.
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We will get higher quality (more diverse) feedback if people from different organizations try something.
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We've also learned that internal only as a state slows us down more than it speeds us up.
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Release the experiment instead of testing internally or waiting for the feature to be in a Beta state.
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The experimental features are only shown when people/organizations opt-in to experiments, we are allowed to make mistakes here and literally experiment.
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## All features are in production
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All features that are available on GitLab.com are considered "in production."
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Because all Experiment, Beta, and Generally Available features are available on GitLab.com, they are all considered to be in production.
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