Update Release Policy and Publication Frequency for Composable Storefront Libraries

• SAP will publish update releases for the composable storefront on a continuous basis. These updates may contain bug fixes, feature updates, or a combination of both.

• Update releases remain current for the following periods of time:

  • For SAP Commerce Cloud, composable storefront libraries, update releases remain current for six months after the publication of the core libraries, unless otherwise indicated.

    For example, the core composable storefront 2211.19 libraries were released in February 2024 and are considered current until August 2024.

  • For SAP Commerce Cloud, composable storefront, financial services accelerator libraries and SAP Commerce Cloud, composable storefront, telco and utilities accelerator libraries, update releases remain current for a minimum of six months after the publication of the libraries, including in this scope any core composable storefront libraries that the composable storefront, financial services accelerator libraries and composable storefront, telco and utilities accelerator libraries depend on.

• A “roll-forward” approach is used, meaning only the latest update release of the libraries will receive bug fixes and new features.

• Customers are strongly encouraged to regularly upgrade to the latest update release. A good rule of thumb is that, when you are upgrading SAP Commerce Cloud to a new version, it is recommended to use the same version of composable storefront. For example, when upgrading to SAP Commerce Cloud 2211.19, it is recommended that you also update composable storefront to version 2211.19.

• “Maintenance” refers to fixes for identified bugs and security vulnerabilities.

• “Functionality updates” refers to any change to how the product or services work or behave.

• “Backwards-compatible update releases” are changes that include bug fixes and new functionality that are published in such a way that they do not require development work in the customer’s application, other than testing, when updating to this release.

• “Incompatible changes” are changes included in an update that may require development work in the customer’s application, when upgrading, to ensure no functional regressions occurred.

• “Semver” refers to Semantic Versioning, a convention for numbering JavaScript libraries. Semantic versioning will no longer be used for composable storefront release numbering. For more information, see Changes to Release Numbering and Update Policies for Composable Storefront Starting in February 2024. For more information on semver, see https://semver.org.

The composable storefront is a set of libraries that enable customers to develop their own web applications for creating a state-of-the art storefront for headless SAP Commerce Cloud. The customer is responsible for developing and maintaining the web application. Though highly recommended, use of the composable storefront is optional.

The composable storefront extends the Angular framework through the introduction of new libraries that are designed to work with SAP Commerce Cloud. The libraries are delivered through SAP’s Repo-Based Shipment Channel. The composable storefront libraries are available to cloud customers only. Other customers may use project “Spartacus” open-source software, which is synchronized with the official composable storefront libraries.

SAP will publish bug fixes and new features to composable storefront on a continuous basis, usually once per month, on the second Tuesday of the month. However, an update release may be published on an ad-hoc basis. This release strategy follows the principle of “one innovation code line” with subsequent update releases that ensure continuous innovation with an evolving code line.

A “roll-forward” approach to updates is used, which means that only the latest update release will receive bug fixes and new features.

A new update release of the composable storefront libraries may include the following:

• Bug fixes that are backwards-compatible

• New features that are backwards-compatible, through the use of feature flags when necessary

• Features and bug fixes that are not backwards-compatible, requiring development work to update. This includes framework updates.

As described in Changes to Release Numbering and Update Policies for Composable Storefront Starting in February 2024, composable storefront will normally adhere to the following yearly update schedule:

• Backwards-compatible bug fixes and new features from March to November

• Bug fixes only in December and January

• Framework and dependency updates every February, using the latest Angular framework that was published the previous quarter (usually in November).

A “roll-forward” approach to updates is used, which means that only the latest update release will receive bug fixes and new features. Older update releases do not receive bug fixes or features.

Customers are strongly encouraged to regularly schedule upgrades to the latest update release to mitigate risks and potential issues, such as but not limited to the following:

• Not upgrading to a current update release of composable storefront exposes you to the risk of software defects, as well as performance, availability, functionality, or security issues.

• Creating a new build of your application using an update release of composable storefront that is not current, may result in build errors -- as a result, you will be unable to deploy new code.

SAP provides technical support to SAP Commerce Cloud customers for releases that are current. When requesting support, customers will be asked to upgrade to the latest update release of the composable storefront software if they have not already done so, to determine if the issue was already resolved.

• A new framework update release was published in February 2024, numbered 2211.19. Note that numbering has changed from semantic versioning (6.x) to match SAP Commerce Cloud continuous release numbering (2211.*).

• A month later, in March, 2211.20 (The “.20” may differ at time of publication) is released, containing new features and bug fixes that are backwards-compatible through feature flags or the use of components presence.

  Monthly releases containing new features and bug fixes continue from March until November. It is not guaranteed that every monthly release will contain new features.

  Exceptionally, an urgently required bug fix or compliancy update results in the publishing of 2211.20.1, between monthly releases. This is done only if it is urgent enough that the update cannot wait until the following monthly release (usually every second Tuesday of the month).

  December and January update releases are published but only with bug fixes, because preparation is under way for the February framework update release. The February release contains the newest Angular framework from the previous Q4. In 2025, this will likely be Angular 19.

  The cycle continues: new features from March to December, and so on.

Customers using the composable storefront must remain current by adopting a current update release as listed in the table at the top of this document.

For information on which update releases of SAP Commerce Cloud are current, see Update Releases.