Version requirements

Summary of changes for OMERO 5.6 and provisional changes for 6.0

We aim to support OMERO on the environments specified below, based on the availability of support by upstream developers and operating system distributions. This applies over the lifetime of the UNKNOWN release and includes security support. Support is limited to those environments on which OMERO is routinely tested.

This page details the minimum version requirements for the current (UNKNOWN) release and also possible changes for the next release.

It is intended to provide a roadmap in order that sysadmins may plan ahead and ensure that prerequisites are in place for future upgrades.

Level

Meaning

Upcoming

unsupported/new

Supported

supported/suboptimal

Recommended

supported/optimal

Deprecated

supported/deprecated

Dropped

unsupported/old

Broken

unsupported/broken

Unsupported

unsupported/misc

Please check the full support levels table for more info on each support level.

Bitness

Rationale: OMERO is tested on 64-bit systems only.

Bitness

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

32-bit

Deprecated for Ice and native code [client]

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

64-bit

Recommended

Recommended

Recommended

Recommended

NGINX

nginx

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

1.8

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

1.10

Recommended

Supported

Deprecated

1.12

Supported

Recommended

Supported

1.14

Upcoming

Supported

Recommended

1.16

Upcoming

Upcoming

Recommended

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 deployment.

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

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

Details

6

Nov 2010

Nov 2020

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

Reference

7

June 2014

June 2024

Recommended

Recommended

Recommended

Deprecated

Reference

8

May 2019

May 2029

Upcoming

Upcoming

Upcoming

Recommended

Reference

RHEL/CentOS 7 is 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.

Linux (Ubuntu)

General overview

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

14.04 LTS

Apr 2014

Apr 2019

Supported

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

16.04 LTS

Apr 2016

Apr 2021

Recommended

Recommended

Dropped

Dropped

18.04 LTS

Apr 2018

Apr 2028

Upcoming

Supported

Recommended

Supported

20.04 LTS

Apr 2020

Apr 2030

Upcoming

Upcoming

Upcoming

Recommended

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.

Microsoft Windows

Client support only. See blog post explanation

MacOS X

MacOS X is typically suited only to client use, not serious server deployment, although the server can be expected to run on versions with current security support for testing purposes.

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

EOL

CentOS 7 / RHEL 7

Reference

Ubuntu

Reference

Homebrew

Reference

FreeBSD Ports

Reference

PostgreSQL

General overview

OMERO support policies

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

9.3

Sep 2013

Sep 2018

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

9.4

Dec 2014

Dec 2019

Supported

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

9.5

Jan 2016

Jan 2021

Supported

Supported

Deprecated

Dropped

9.6

Sep 2016

Sep 2021

Recommended

Supported

Deprecated

Dropped

10

Oct 2017

Nov 2022

Upcoming

Recommended

Supported

Supported

11

Oct 2018

Nov 2023

Upcoming

Upcoming

Recommended

Recommended

12

Oct 2019

Nov 2024

Upcoming

Upcoming

Supported

Supported

Version provided by distribution

If no version is provided, a suitable repository is indicated.

Version

CentOS/RHEL

Ubuntu

Homebrew

FreeBSD Ports

9.6

6 (postgresql), 7 (postgresql), 8 (postgresql)

16.04, 18.04 (postgresql)

Yes

Yes

10

6 (postgresql), 7 (postgresql), 8 (postgresql)

14.04, 16.04, 18.04 (postgresql)

Yes

Yes

11

6 (postgresql), 7 (postgresql), 8 (postgresql)

16.04, 18.04, 20.04 (postgresql)

Yes

Yes

12

6 (postgresql), 7 (postgresql), 8 (postgresql)

16.04, 18.04, 20.04 (postgresql)

Yes

Yes

Details

Reference

The PostgreSQL project provides packages for supported platforms therefore distribution support is not necessary.

Python

OMERO support policies

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

Details

2.6

Oct 2008

Oct 2013

Dropped 1 Supported 2

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

PEP 361

2.7

Jul 2010

Jan 2020

Recommended

Recommended

Dropped

Dropped

PEP 373

3.2

Feb 2011

Feb 2016

Broken

Broken

Broken

Unsupported

PEP 392

3.3

Sep 2012

Sep 2017

Broken

Broken

Broken

Unsupported

PEP 398

3.4

Mar 2014

Mar 2019

Broken

Broken

Broken

Unsupported

PEP 429

3.5

Sep 2015

Sep 2020

Broken

Broken

Upcoming

Unsupported

PEP 478

3.6

Dec 2016

Dec 2021

Broken

Broken

Recommended

Supported

PEP 494

3.7

Jun 2018

Jun 2023

Broken

Broken

Supported

Recommended

PEP 537
1

For OMERO.web, Python 2.7 is the minimum supported version.

2

For OMERO.py and OMERO.server 5.4, Python 2.6 is the minimum supported version.

Version provided by distribution

Version

CentOS/RHEL

Ubuntu

Homebrew

FreeBSD Ports

2.6

6

10.04

N/A

Yes

2.7

7

14.04, 16.04, 18.04

Yes

Yes

3.2

N/A

N/A

N/A

Yes

3.3

N/A

N/A

N/A

Yes

3.4

7 (EPEL)

14.04

N/A

Yes

3.5

N/A

16.04

N/A

Yes

3.6

7 (EPEL)

18.04

Yes

Yes

Details

Python 2 Python 3

Python 2.7 support ends in 2020;

The Django version used by OMERO.web (1.11.26) is supported on Python 3.5, 3.6 and 3.7

Ice

General overview

OMERO support policies

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

Details

3.5

Mar 2013

Oct 2013

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

3.5.0, 3.5.1

3.6

June 2015

TBA

Recommended

Recommended

Recommended

Recommended

3.6.0 (3.6.1 Broken), 3.6.2, 3.6.3, 3.6.4, 3.6.5.

3.7

July 2017

TBA

Unsupported

Unsupported

Unsupported

Unsupported

3.7.0, 3.7.1, 3.7.2, 3.7.3.

Version provided by distribution

If no version is provided, a suitable repository is indicated.

Version

CentOS/RHEL

Ubuntu

Homebrew

FreeBSD Ports

3.5

6, 7 (zeroc)

14.04, 16.04

N/A

N/A

3.6

6, 7 (zeroc)

14.04, 16.04 (zeroc)

Yes

Yes

3.7

7 (zeroc)

16.04, 18.04 (zeroc)

Yes

Yes

Details

Reference

Java

General overview

OMERO support policies

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

Details

7

Jul 2011

Apr 2015

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

Reference

8

Mar 2014

Jun 2023

Recommended

Recommended

Supported

Deprecated

Reference

11

Sep 2018

Oct 2024

Unsupported

Supported

Recommended

Recommended

Reference

12

Sep 2018

Oct 2024

Unsupported

Unsupported

Supported

Recommended

13

Sep 2018

Oct 2024

Unsupported

Unsupported

Supported

Supported

Version provided by distribution

Version

CentOS/RHEL

Ubuntu

Homebrew

FreeBSD Ports

7

6, 7

14.04

N/A

Yes

8

6, 7

16.04, 18.04

N/A

N/A

11

7

18.04

N/A

Yes

Details

Reference

Note that all distributions provide OpenJDK due to distribution restrictions by Oracle. Oracle Java may be used if downloaded separately.

NGINX

General overview and roadmap

OMERO support policies

Version

Release date

Supported until

OMERO 5.4

OMERO 5.5

OMERO 5.6

OMERO 6.0

1.6

Apr 2014

Apr 2015

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

Dropped

1.8

Apr 2015

Jan 2016

Supported

Deprecated

Dropped

Dropped

1.10

Apr 2016

Apr 2017

Recommended

Supported

Deprecated

Dropped

1.12

Apr 2017

Apr 2018

Supported

Recommended

Supported

Deprecated

1.14

Apr 2018

Apr 2019

Upcoming

Supported

Recommended

Supported

1.16

Apr 2019

TBA

Upcoming

Upcoming

Recommended

Recommended

Version provided by distribution

If no version is provided, a suitable repository is indicated.

Version

CentOS/RHEL

Ubuntu

Homebrew

FreeBSD Ports

1.12

7 (EPEL)

14.04 (nginx)

N/A

Yes

1.14

N/A

16.04, 18.04 (nginx)

Yes

Yes

Details

Reference

Support levels

The following table defines the symbols used throughout this page 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