Releases

ErsatzTV Next is published as versioned releases and as development builds. Published releases and builds never change: a version number always refers to the same files.

note

ErsatzTV (legacy) users don't need to install ErsatzTV Next separately. Each ErsatzTV release bundles a specific ErsatzTV Next version.

Downloads

• Binaries: the latest release has builds for Windows (x64), Linux (x64, x64 musl, arm64) and macOS (x64, arm64). Each archive contains ersatztv, ersatztv-channel and ersatztv-playout-generator (and libvpl.dll on Windows).
• Docker: ersatztv/next (also ghcr.io/ersatztv/next) for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64.
• FFmpeg: use the ErsatzTV-ffmpeg build. The Docker image already includes it.

To see which version you're running:

ersatztv --version

Version Numbers

Releases use semantic versioning. Before 1.0, versions have the form 0.B.C, the same rule as the config versions:

• B changes with every breaking change, for example 0.2.3 to 0.3.0.
• C changes with every other release, whether it adds features or only fixes bugs, for example 0.2.3 to 0.2.4.

A release is breaking when something that worked with the previous release can stop working:

• a config format changes its B (lineup, channel or playout);
• a command-line option or subcommand of ersatztv, ersatztv-channel or ersatztv-playout-generator is removed or renamed;
• an HTTP route or the HLS output of ersatztv is removed or changes;
• a default changes in a way that changes the output of an existing config.

The changelog lists breaking changes under Breaking, with instructions for updating your configs.

Compatibility

The release notes of every release and development build end with a Compatibility section that lists:

• the config versions that build reads, for example "Channel config: reads versions 0.1.0 to 0.1.1";
• the ErsatzTV-ffmpeg version it was built and tested with.

A newer ErsatzTV Next can need a newer ErsatzTV-ffmpeg. It still runs with an older build, but can lack the fixes and features that need the newer one, so update ErsatzTV-ffmpeg along with ErsatzTV Next.

Docker Tags

Tag	Follows
latest	the newest release
v0.2	the newest 0.2.x release, so it stops before the next breaking release
v0.2.0	exactly that release
develop	the newest development build
v0.2.1-f8410286-develop	exactly that development build

For Docker Compose, a vX.Y tag picks up fixes and features without a breaking change.

Development Builds

Development builds are published from the main branch in ErsatzTV/next-develop-builds, ahead of the next release. A development build is named after the release it leads to and the commit it was built from. For example, v0.2.1-f8410286-develop is commit f8410286 on the way to v0.2.1, and reports 0.2.1-f8410286-develop+linux-x64 as its version on Linux x64.

Development builds are less tested than releases. Only the newest 100 are kept.