Legacy software versions refer to products or software versions that are no longer actively maintained by ActiveState or have reached their end-of-life. These versions no longer receive support or patches from the open source community. For a list of important end-of-life dates, see endoflife.date.
While legacy versions may still be in use, they pose significant risks to system security and performance. They also incur additional costs to maintain aging software and infrastructure. As they age, the challenges and costs associated with maintaining them increase, making licensing and use more expensive. We strongly recommend updating legacy versions to avoid these risks.
ActiveState provides extended support for select language versions, incorporating patches and updates backported to older versions. This option may not be available for all versions due to compatibility issues arising from the age and differences between languages and build systems.
Over time, software versions are impacted by changes outside their environments, including:
Versions that were optimal at release may now have security issues or incompatibilities with current code. Continuing to use legacy versions risks system degradation without remediation.
No. Use the ActiveState Platform to update to a newer, more secure version and remediate the risks of older versions.
If you cannot update your installation to a more current version (for example, if your system’s stability relies on customization done to an older version), ActiveState can help manage associated risks by continuing to license your legacy version.
Example scenario:
I am currently using Perl 5.18. The version is too old and at renewal time one of three things must be done to comply with the license agreement:
Upgrade to the newest version through the ActiveState Platform:
To make changes to your existing account to address legacy software versions, contact us.