Legacy Software Versions

Legacy Software Versions refer to products or software versions that are no longer actively maintained by ActiveState or have reached their end-of-life, meaning they no longer receive support or patches from the Open Source community. A list of important end-of-life dates can be found here.

While these legacy versions may still be in use, they can pose significant risks to the security and performance of your system and incur additional costs to ActiveState to maintain aging software and infrastructure. And as they age, the challenges and costs associated with maintaining them increase. Consequently, licensing and using legacy versions become more expensive for the user. We strongly recommend modernizing legacy versions to avoid these risks.

We provide extended support for select language versions, incorporating patches and updates that are 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.

Why do legacy versions need to be updated?

Over time, software versions are impacted by changes outside of their environments, which can include the introduction of:

• Security vulnerabilities
• Bugs
• Outdated compatibility with other systems
• Changes to compliance specifications
• Needs associated with performance optimization

Those versions, the best available when they were released, may now have security issues or incompatibilities with more current code that they interact with. Continuing to use a legacy version is a risk to your current system, which can continue to degrade without action being taken.

Do I need to actively maintain legacy versions on my system?

No, by using the ActiveState Platform to update to a newer and more secure version you can remediate the risks brought on by using older versions.

If you are unable to update your installation with a more current version (for example, your current system’s stability relies on a fair amount of customization done to an older version) ActiveState can help shoulder some of the associated risks by continuing to license you with your Legacy Version.

Consider the following example of a customer with a Legacy Version:

“I am currently using Perl 5.18. The version is too old and come renewal time one of three things must be done in order to comply with the license agreement:

1. I need to use the ActiveState Platform to update my Perl version to a more recent edition (for example Perl 5.38) in order to comply with the license agreement as laid out in the Terms of Service. This is free and has the additional benefit of using a more secure and modern language version in my runtime.
2. I can upgrade my current tier to a level where I have access to tools that will help me keep using my outdated edition (for example Offline Installers). This will come at an additional cost to my existing plan. Information on pricing can be found here.
3. I can pay an additional cost to maintain the aging software and infrastructure needed for my older version. This will be on the same tier I currently am on, but will be an additional cost in order to comply with the existing license agreement. “

How do I update my runtime to a more current version?

Upgrading to the newest version can be done through the ActiveState Platform. Changes can be made to existing project runtimes to incorporate the newest versions or entirely new project runtimes can be created to meet your needs.

How do I make the necessary changes to my account?

To make changes to your existing account to deal with your Legacy Software Versions contact us.