## Vault version guidance

HashiCorp regularly releases new versions of Vault in the form of "major" and "minor" releases.
Vault typically uses version numbers in the form of X.Y.Z, and very rarely the form X.Y.Z.A.

Vault version numbers do not conform to [semver](https://semver.org/).
Vault major releases are identified by a change in the second (Y) digit.
Vault minor releases are identified by a change in the third (Z) digit.
Vault denotes a release with Enterprise only changes using the fourth (A) digit.
HashiCorp's Support and End-of-Life
[policy](https://support.hashicorp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021185113-Support-Period-and-End-of-Life-EOL-Policy)
covers versioning in more detail.

HashiCorp does not require upgrading to each major (Y digit) Vault release immediately when it becomes available.
HashiCorp does strongly encourage upgrading Vault to the latest minor (Z digit) patch in a supported major release.

To be notified of new Vault releases, users can subscribe to our [Discuss Forum](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/)
using the [vault-release-ce-ent](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/tag/vault-release-ce-ent) tag.
New security bulletins are also available on Discuss via the
[security-vault](https://discuss.hashicorp.com/tag/security-vault) tag.
