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Note

This documentation is for OMERO 5.2. This version is now in maintenance mode and will only be updated in the event of critical bugs or security concerns. OMERO 5.3 is expected before the end of 2016.

Version requirements

Summary of changes for OMERO 5.2 and planned changes for 5.3

Criteria for what is considered to be supportable includes whether support by both upstream developers and operating system distributions will be available for the lifetime of the 5.2 release (including security support), and also upon our resources allocated to CI and testing. If we are not actively testing it, we cannot claim it is supported or functional. Software components must be provided and supported either by an operating system distribution or their original developers.

This section contains a summary of the changes made to the minimum version requirements for the 5.2 release and also planned changes for the following 5.3 release, albeit tentatively at this point. The intent is to provide a roadmap in order that sysadmins may plan ahead and ensure that prerequisites are in place ahead of time to ease future upgrades. The following sections provide more detailed information and the rationale for the changes.

Operating systems

  • Microsoft Windows
    • [5.2] 7 / Server 2008R2 supported, 8 (client) recommended / Server 2012R2 (server) recommended
    • [5.3] Unsupported for OMERO.server or hosting OMERO.web, client support only
    • Rationale: see blog post explanation
  • MacOS X
    • [5.2] 10.8 dropped. 10.9 deprecated, 10.10 recommended, 10.11 upcoming
    • [5.3] 10.9 dropped, 10.10 deprecated, 10.11 recommended, 10.12 upcoming
    • Test server only on 10.10+ for 5.2.
    • Rationale: 10.9 no longer has security support and it still leaves 3 versions to support. MacOS X is typically suited only to client use, not serious server deployment, so limit testing accordingly.
  • Linux (CentOS/RHEL)
    • [5.2] 7.x recommended, 6.x supported
    • [5.3] 7.x recommended, 6.x deprecated
    • Rationale: There is still a significant CentOS 6 userbase, so retain support for 5.2 and potentially continue to support for 5.3 depending upon demand and usage.
  • Linux (Ubuntu LTS)
    • [5.2] 12.04 dropped, 14.04 recommended
    • [5.3] 12.04 dropped, 14.04 recommended
    • Only LTS versions are supported and tested. Non-LTS versions following a supported LTS release are likely to work but are not officially supported or tested.
    • Rationale: No change in this timeframe.
  • Linux (Debian)
    • [5.2] 7 deprecated, 8 recommended
    • [5.3] 7 deprecated, 8 recommended
    • Rationale: No change in this timeframe.

Bitness

Currently 32- and 64-bit systems are supported for client and server on all platforms with the exception of MacOS X (64-bit only).

  • [5.2] Dropped 32-bit support for Ice and native code [server]
  • [5.3] Deprecate 32-bit support for Ice and native code [client]
  • Rationale: It is not practical to run a server on a 32-bit system due to its memory requirements, so it is safe to drop 32-bit support for OMERO.server in 5.2 given that it is de-facto 64-bit-only today. There are still a significant number of 32-bit Windows clients (~60%), so support should be retained until this changes. Maintaining custom builds of Ice for 32-bit systems is extremely costly, and so we could consider dropping them for 5.3. This also depends upon Ice support for 32-bit systems.

Components

  • PostgreSQL
    • [5.2] 9.2 dropped, 9.3 deprecated, 9.4+ recommended
    • [5.3] 9.2 dropped, 9.3 deprecated, 9.4+ recommended
    • Rationale: Current releases available for all supported systems from upstream and for CentOS/RHEL 6.x officially via SCL (software collections).
  • Python
    • [5.2] 2.6 deprecated and not recommended, 2.7 recommended, 3.x not supported
    • [5.3] 2.6 dropped, 2.7 recommended, 3.x not supported
    • Rationale: 2.7 is provided by all systems except for CentOS/RHEL 6.x, however it is available officially via SCL. Note that 3.3 is also available via SCL, so there is potential for a 3.x migration in the 5.3 timeframe. Dropping 2.6 for 5.3 unifies python support with a single major version, and removes a number of portability issues, but most importantly is a requirement of Django 1.8. Python 2.6 will continue to work for 5.2 with Django 1.6, but this is not recommended due to security vulnerabilities.
  • GCC
    • [5.2] 4.4 dropped, 4.6+ deprecated, 4.8+ recommended, 5 supported
    • [5.3] 4.6+ dropped, 4.8 and 4.9 supported, 5 recommended
    • Rationale: 4.4 is the CentOS/RHEL 6.x default, 4.8 the 7.x default. The SCL DeveloperToolset3 brings CentOS 6 up to GCC 4.9.1, which makes the new baseline GCC 4.6 (Ubuntu 12.04 and Travis). This will allow use of a limited subset of C++11 features across all platforms in 5.2+. The downside is that while programs and libraries built with the SCL DeveloperToolset3 will generally be link-compatible with the system libraries, use of these libraries with end user code will require the DeveloperToolset3 toolchain and libraries.
The planned changes for 5.2 depend upon our support of
CentOS/RHEL 6.x and Ubuntu 12.04.
  • LLVM/clang
    • [5.2] 3.4 and 3.5 supported, 3.6 recommended and 3.7 supported
    • [5.3] 3.4 deprecated, 3.5 and 3.6 supported, 3.7 recommended
    • Rationale: It is the current toolchain on MacOS/FreeBSD and is working well; 3.3 dropped due to no longer being used by current toolchains
  • Microsoft Visual Studio
    • [5.2] 2010 dropped, 2012 deprecated, 2013 recommended,
    • [5.3] 2012 deprecated, 2013 recommended, 2015 supported 2015 supported
    • Rationale: The minimum (and maximum) MSVC version is determined by the Windows Ice builds provided by ZeroC, and as such is limited by our Ice version requirements. Raising the limit in 5.2 will permit use of newer language features.
  • Ice
    • [5.2] 3.4 dropped, 3.5 recommended, 3.6 supported
    • [5.3] 3.4 dropped, 3.5 deprecated, 3.6 recommended
    • Rationale: 3.4 is no longer supported by ZeroC with 3.5 being current. By the release of 5.3, Ice 3.6 will have been out for some time and should be well tested.
  • Java
    • [5.2] 6 dropped, 7 deprecated, 8 recommended
    • [5.3] 7 deprecated, 8 recommended
    • Rationale: It will be 2 years this February since the last Java 6 security update. Java 7 is supported on all supported operating systems above, and in most cases is the default Java version on those systems (it is now 8 on some). This was mentioned recently, and also by the Fiji developers; 5.1 would be an opportune time to deprecate or preferably drop Java 6. Also note that we no longer actively test with a Java 6 JVM; all internal testing is on Java 7 or 8 (Oracle and OpenJDK), and there are some client issues with OpenJDK6. Also note that Ice 3.6 drops Java 6 support. For 5.2 deprecate 7; this is because security support ends in April 2015.
    • The requirement for 7 in the Windows clients is less urgent, but will encourage migration to a non-deprecated Java version ahead of the removal of support for 6.
  • Apache
    • [5.2] deprecated in OMERO 5.2.6
    • [5.3] deprecated, likely to be dropped during the 5.3.x line
    • Rationale: 2.2 is the CentOS/RHEL 6.x and Ubuntu 12.04 version, both of which will be dropped in 5.3 if CentOS 6 is dropped, otherwise they will remain deprecated.
  • mod_wsgi
    • 3.5+ recommended
    • Rationale: Choice of mod_wsgi version support is made by the OS vendors, who may choose to continue with an older version with security patches applied. For more information refer to mod_wsgi installation.
  • nginx
    • [5.2] 1.4 deprecated, 1.6 supported, 1.8 recommended, 1.10 upcoming
    • [5.3] 1.4 dropped, 1.6 supported, 1.8 supported, 1.10 recommended

Support levels

The following sections use the terminology in the table below to describe the support status of a given component, as it progresses from being new and not supported, to supported and tested on a routine basis, and to finally being old and no longer supported nor tested.

Level Meaning Description
Upcoming unsupported/new New version not yet regularly tested and not officially supported; may or may not work (use at own risk)
Supported supported/suboptimal Version which is tested, confirmed to work correctly, but may not offer optimal performance/experience
Recommended supported/optimal Version which is regularly tested, confirmed to work correctly, recommended for optimal performance/experience
Deprecated supported/deprecated Version which is less tested, expected to work correctly, but may not offer optimal performance/experience; official support may be dropped in the next major OMERO release
Dropped unsupported/old Old version no longer tested and no longer officially supported; may or may not work (use at own risk)
Broken unsupported/broken Known to not work
Unsupported unsupported/misc Not supported for some reason other than the above

Operating system support

The following subsections detail the versions of each operating system which are supported by both its upstream developers (for security and general updates) and by OME for OMERO building and server and client deployment.

Microsoft Windows

General overview (under ‘W’ in the index)

    Upstream support        
Version Release date (mainline) (extended) OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
Vista from Jan 2007 to Apr 2012 to Apr 2017 Dropped Dropped Dropped Ref
Win 7 from Oct 2009 to Jan 2015 to Jan 2020 Recommended Supported Unsupported† Ref
Server 2008 R2 from May 2008 to Jan 2018 to Jan 2023 Recommended Supported Unsupported Ref
Win 8 from Oct 2012 to Jan 2018 to Jan 2023 Supported Recommended Unsupported† Ref
Server 2012 from Oct 2012 to Jan 2018 to Jan 2023 Supported Recommended Unsupported Ref
Win 10 from July 2015 to Oct 2020 to Oct 2025 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported† Ref
Unsupported for OMERO.server and OMERO.web deployment. Client support will continue or is upcoming (Windows 10)

Insufficient resources are available for regular CI deployment and testing of OMERO.server so a decision has been made to drop support in favor of other priorities. See this blog post for full details.

UNIX (MacOS X)

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support Homebrew support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
10.9 from Jun 2013 Ended Ended Recommended Supported Dropped
10.10 from Oct 2014 Supported Supported Supported Recommended Deprecated
10.11 from Sep 2015 Supported Supported Supported Upcoming Recommended
10.12 from Sep 2016 Supported Supported Unsupported Unsupported Upcoming

Apple do not formally announce end of life for their releases, but with the three latest releases being supported this puts 10.10 as the minimum version suitable for use. We have regular CI testing of 10.11 and 10.12 builds plus developer testing of building and client and server deployment. 10.9 and 10.10 are marked as dropped and deprecated since they are no longer tested by the CI infrastructure (nodes retired).

UNIX (FreeBSD)

It only really makes sense to support the base toolchain for major releases and the Ports tree (which is continually updated); these will be covered in the dependencies, below.

Linux (CentOS and RHEL)

General overview for RHEL and CentOS

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
5 from Mar 2007 to Mar 2017 Dropped Dropped Dropped Ref
6 from Nov 2010 to Nov 2020 Recommended Supported Deprecated Ref
7 from June 2014 to June 2024 Supported Recommended Recommended Ref

Only RHEL and CentOS 6 are supported at present. Given the long life of enterprise releases, we intend to support only the latest release at any given time or else it ties us into very old dependencies; 6.x is already quite long in the tooth, however is in wide use and so will require supporting for 5.1 at a minimum. 7.x can be the recommended version once it is properly tested by us and has appropriate CI support. There is currently extensive CI support for building and deployment with CentOS 6 but it is not used directly by developers in general.

Linux (Fedora)

General overview

Due to the fast pace of Fedora development, it only really makes sense to support the current and perhaps the previous release; these will be covered in the dependencies, below.

Linux (Ubuntu)

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
12.04 (.4) LTS from Apr 2012 to Apr 2017 Deprecated Dropped Dropped
14.04 LTS from Apr 2014 to Apr 2019 Recommended Recommended Recommended
14.10 from Oct 2014 to Jul 2015 Dropped Dropped Dropped
15.04 TBA TBA Supported Supported Dropped
15.10 TBA TBA Unsupported Unsupported Upcoming

Only the LTS releases are supported due to resource limitations upon CI and testing. Only the last two LTS releases are supported (being a bit more frequent than CentOS/RHEL). There is currently no CI testing for any version, but some developer use of 12.04 LTS, 14.04 LTS and more recent non-LTS releases.

Linux (Debian stable)

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
6.0 from Feb 2011 to Feb 2016 Dropped Dropped Dropped Reference
7.0 from May 2013 TBA Recommended Deprecated Deprecated Reference
8.0 TBA TBA Unsupported Supported Supported Reference

Stable releases 7.x and 6.x are supported. There is no CI testing for any version, and some developer use of 7.x.

Linux (Debian testing and unstable)

Due to the fast pace of Debian developement, it only really makes sense to support the last one or two stable releases; the testing and unstable requirements will be covered in the dependencies, below.

Hardware support

Microsoft Windows

Supports amd64 (64-bit) and i386 / x86 (32-bit) for all supported versions; most systems are today running x64 with most hardware being x64, but there is still a niche of x86 users, estimated <25% and falling globally. On Windows, crude estimates are that OMERO.server is 66% amd64, OMERO.insight is 40% amd64, Bio-Formats is 70% amd64. However, note that OMERO.server deployment on Windows is rare, and the i386 systems are not likely to be production servers.

Unix (MacOS X)

Currently all supported versions are amd64 (64-bit) only.

Unix (FreeBSD)

Supports amd64 (64-bit) and i386 / x86 (32-bit) for all supported releases. Other platforms are supported, but may require manual building of prerequisites.

Linux (RHEL and CentOS)

Version 6 supports amd64 (64-bit) and i386 / x86 (32-bit). Version 7 supports amd64 (64-bit) only. Crude estimates (Linux+MacOS) are that OMERO.server is 98% amd64, OMERO.insight is 98% amd64, Bio-Formats is 78% amd64.

Linux (other)

Most distributions support i386 / x86 (32-bit) as well, while some support additional architectures such as 32-bit and/or 64-bit arm and powerpc.

Additional notes

The OMERO server is 64-bit-only due to the large memory requirements. On the client side, there is a requirement for 32-bit support for Windows clients and to a lesser extent on Linux, and zero on MacOS X at present. Dropping 32-bit support for OMERO.server and C++ Ice and other builds should be considered, given the vast reduction in the support burden and steadily dropping need for these builds.

Dependencies

The following subsections detail the versions of each dependency needed by OMERO which are supported by both its upstream developers (for security and general updates) and by OME for OMERO building and server and client deployment.

Note

Versions in brackets are in development distributions and may change without notice.

Package lists

Operating system Details
CentOS 6 / RHEL 6 Reference
CentOS 7 / RHEL 7 Reference
Fedora (general) Reference
Fedora 19 Reference
Fedora 20 Reference
Fedora 21 Reference
Ubuntu Reference
Debian Reference
Homebrew Reference
FreeBSD Ports Reference

PostgreSQL

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
9.2 from Sep 2012 to Sep 2017 Deprecated Dropped Dropped
9.3 from Sep 2013 to Sep 2018 Recommended Deprecated Deprecated
9.4 from Dec 2014 to Dec 2019 Supported Recommended Recommended
9.5 TBA TBA Unsupported Unsupported Upcoming
Details   Reference      

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
9.2 7.x 19 N/A N/A Yes Yes
9.3 N/A 20, 21 14.04 N/A N/A Yes
9.4 N/A N/A 14.10 (8.0) N/A Yes
9.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Details   Ref Ref Ref    

The PostgreSQL project provides packages for supported platforms. Therefore distribution support is not critical since 9.3 and 9.4 are available for all platforms.

Python

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
2.6 from Oct 2008 to Oct 2013 Deprecated Deprecated Dropped Reference
2.7 from Jul 2010 to 2020 Recommended Recommended Recommended Reference
3.2 from Feb 2011 to Feb 2016 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Reference
3.3 from Sep 2012 to Sep 2017 Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Reference
3.4 from Mar 2014 TBA Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Reference
3.5 TBA TBA Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported Reference

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
2.6 6.x N/A 10.04 6.0, 7.0 N/A Yes
2.7 7.x 19, 20, 21 12.04, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) 7.0, (8.0) Yes Yes
3.2 N/A N/A 12.04 7.0 N/A Yes
3.3 N/A 19, 20 13.04, 13.10 N/A N/A Yes
3.4 N/A 21 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
3.5 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Details   Python 2 Python 3 Python 2 Python 3 Python 2 Python 3    

At the moment 2.7 support is present upstream for the foreseeable future; 3.x versions continue to be released and retired regularly in parallel. The limiting factor will be distribution support for 2.7 as major packages are slowly switching to 3.x, and this might cause problems if our python module dependencies are no longer available without major effort. Ice 3.5 in particular has dropped 2.7 support for Windows, and has a significant cost in providing custom rebuilds; this has been rectified in Ice 3.6 with the Python module being installable with pip using any Python version.

The supported version of the Django module used by OMERO.web (1.8) requires Python 2.7. The older version (1.6) will work with Python 2.6 but lacks security support, and is consequently not recommended for production use.

GCC

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
4.4 from Apr 2009 to Mar 2012 Deprecated Dropped Dropped
4.5 from Apr 2010 to Jul 2012 Deprecated Dropped Dropped
4.6 from Mar 2011 to Apr 2013 Supported Deprecated Dropped
4.7 from Mar 2012 to Apr 2013 Supported Deprecated Dropped
4.8 from Mar 2013 to May 2014 Recommended Recommended Deprecated
4.9 from Apr 2014 to Jun 2015 Recommended Recommended Supported
5 from Apr 2015 TBA Unsupported Supported Recommended

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
4.4 6.x N/A 10.04, 12.04, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10 6.0, 7.0 Yes N/A
4.5 N/A N/A 12.04 N/A Yes N/A
4.6 N/A N/A 12.04, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10 7.0, (8.0) Yes N/A
4.7 N/A N/A 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10 7.0, (8.0) Yes Yes
4.8 7.x 19, 20 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
4.9 N/A 21 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
5.0 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Details   Ref Ref Ref    

GCC 4.2 support was dropped with the dropping of MacOS 10.6; the current baseline is GCC 4.4.

LLVM/clang

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
3.4 from Jan 2014 to May 2014 from Jan 2014 to May 2014 Recommended Supported Supported
3.5 from Sep 2014 to Sep 2014 Supported Recommended Supported
3.6 from Feb 2015 to Jul 2015 Unsupported Supported Recommended
3.7 from Sep 2015 TBA Unsupported Unsupported Supported

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
3.4 N/A 20, 21 12.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
3.5 N/A (22) 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
3.6 N/A N/A N/A (8.0) N/A N/A
3.7 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Details   Ref Ref Ref    

Note that clang++ 3.4 is used in FreeBSD 10.1 and MacOS 10.9 and 10.10. clang++ 3.6 is used in MacOS 10.10 and 10.11 (Xcode 7). Also note that the MacOS version deviates from the official releases and has some features disabled or crippled such as the address sanitizer and OpenMP.

Microsoft Visual Studio

General overview

    Upstream support      
Version Release date (mainline) (extended) OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
2010 from Jun 2010 to Jul 2015 to Jul 2020 Deprecated Dropped Dropped
2012 from Oct 2012 to Jan 2018 to Jan 2023 Supported Deprecated Deprecated
2013 from Jan 2014 to Apr 2019 to Apr 2024 Recommended Recommended Supported
2015 from Jun 2015 to Oct 2020 to Oct 2025 Unsupported Unsupported Supported

The version to use is largely dependent upon the Ice support for a particular Visual Studio version.

  • Ice 3.6 supports 2015, 2013 and 2012
  • Ice 3.5 supports 2013, 2012 and 2010
  • Ice 3.4 supports 2010 and 2008

In general later versions have better C++ standards conformance and correctness, and should be preferred where possible.

Ice

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
3.3 from May 2008 to May 2009 Dropped Dropped Dropped Ice 3.3 Ice 3.3.1
3.4 from Mar 2010 to Jun 2011 Deprecated Dropped Dropped Ice 3.4 Ice 3.4.2
3.5 from Mar 2013 to Oct 2013 Recommended Recommended Deprecated Ice 3.5 Ice 3.5.1
3.6 from June 2015 to TBA Unsupported Supported Recommended Ice 3.6.0 Ice 3.6.1 Ice 3.6.2

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
3.3 N/A N/A 10.04 6.0 N/A N/A
3.4 N/A N/A 12.04, 13.04, 13.10 7.0 N/A N/A
3.5 N/A 19, 20, 21 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) Yes Yes
3.6 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Java

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3 Details
6 from Dec 2006 to Feb 2013 Deprecated Dropped Dropped Reference
7 From Jul 2011 to Apr 2015 Supported Deprecated Deprecated Reference
8 From Mar 2014 to Mar 2017 Recommended Recommended Recommended Reference

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
6 6.x, 7.x N/A 10.04, 12.04, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) 6.0, 7.0, (8.0) N/A Yes
7 6.x, 7.x 19, 20, 21, (22) 12.04, 13.04, 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) 7.0, (8.0) N/A Yes
8 N/A 19, 20, 21, (22) 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) N/A Yes
Details   Ref 1 Ref 2 Ref Ref    

Note that all distributions provide OpenJDK 6, 7 and/or 8 due to distribution restrictions by Oracle. Oracle Java may be used if downloaded separately.

Oracle no longer allow general downloading of Java 6. Java 7 is available for all platforms except for OSX 10.6 (where it is installable manually by unpacking the 10.7 installer). Some 1.8 OpenJDK versions are broken (Debian/Ubuntu 1.8.0u40 broken), but some work (1.8.0u25, FreeBSD). 1.8 should become recommended once working versions exist in all distributions.

OpenGL

General overview

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
2.0 in Sep 2004 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
2.1 in Jun 2006 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.0 in Aug 2008 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.1 in Mar 2009 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.2 in Aug 2009 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
3.3 in Mar 2010 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.0 in Mar 2010 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.1 in Jul 2010 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.2 in Aug 2010 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.3 in Aug 2012 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.4 in Jul 2013 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported
4.5 in Aug 2014 N/A Unsupported Unsupported Unsupported

Distribution support

Version Windows CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian MacOS FreeBSD Ports
2.0 Varies* Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
2.1 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10 (legacy profile) Varies†
3.0 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
3.1 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
3.2 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† 10.7, 10.8 (core profile) Varies†
3.3 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† 10.9, 10.10 (core profile min) Varies†
4.0 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
4.1 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† 10.9, 10.10 (core profile max) Varies†
4.2 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
4.3 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
4.4 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
4.5 Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† Varies† N/A Varies†
Details           Ref  
*
Driver/hardware dependent, but the Windows Vista/7/8 DirectX 9 requirement is mostly the same as OpenGL 2.0, so any badged machine should have OpenGL 2.0-capable hardware (it will also require a functional driver)
Driver/hardware dependent

Support is largely down to the system hardware (GPU) and drivers. There are no guarantees for 2.0 and greater on Windows (1.4 only guaranteed), but AMD, Intel and nVidia all provide GL drivers supporting newer versions. The minimum baseline is probably 2.1. However, 3.2/3.3 is probably the baseline for most hardware under 5 years old, with 4.x being the typical baseline for hardware from a year ago.

Apache

General overview and website.

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
2.2 from Dec 2005 TBA Supported Deprecated Deprecated
2.4 from Feb 2012 TBA Recommended Deprecated Deprecated

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
2.2 6.x N/A 10.04, 12.04, 13.10 6.0, 7.0 N/A Yes
2.4 7.x 19, 20, 21, (22) 13.10, 14.04, 14.10, (15.04) (8.0) N/A Yes
Details   Ref Ref Ref    

Apache 2.2+ requires mod_wsgi which is included in the standard distribution on CentOS 7 (or has to be installed from external repository, for CentOS6). For more information refer to mod_wsgi installation.

nginx

General overview and roadmap

Version Release date Upstream support OMERO 5.1 OMERO 5.2 OMERO 5.3
1.4 from Apr 2013 to Mar 2014 Supported Deprecated Dropped
1.6 from Apr 2014 TBA Recommended Supported Supported
1.8 from Apr 2015 TBA Unsupported Recommended Supported
1.10 from April 2016 TBA Unsupported Upcoming Recommended

Distribution support

Version CentOS/RHEL Fedora Ubuntu Debian Homebrew FreeBSD Ports
1.4 N/A 19, 20 13.10, 14.04 N/A N/A N/A
1.6 EPEL 21, (22) 14.10, (15.04) (8.0), 7.0 bpo N/A N/A
1.8 N/A N/A N/A N/A Yes Yes
1.10 N/A N/A 16.04 N/A N/A N/A
Details     Ref Ref