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So recently I was working with a client, they were asking about a problem they were having.

I started with my typical first question which is "What version of Liferay are you using?"

Their response: We're on 2025.Q1.0 LTS.

Which is great, they're right where they need to be, almost.

My goto line in this case (I think it might also be Support's goto line, not sure though) is "Great. Have you tried your issue on 2025.Q1.14?"

Their response: No, but we're not interested in 2025.Q1.14 as we just did a big upgrade to get to 2025.Q1.0. If it's fixed, can we just get a hotfix from support?

And I realized that, somewhere along the line, the messaging about the patch releases somehow didn't get to the person I was working with...

So here's the deal, folks:

When we do a major release like 2025.Q1, 2025.Q2, 2024.Q1, ..., we will often follow those up with patch releases.

For example, we currently have 2025.Q1.14, 2025.Q2.1, and 2024.Q1.17 as of this writing.

Those patch releases are exactly like the old Fix Packs that we used to provide, they're just automatically applied for you so you don't have to use the command line patching tool.

By exactly the same, that means:

• They contain bug fixes, performance enhancements and security updates applied to the initial release. And not just for the things that you might have found, but fixes that other clients have found and reported and have been fixed, so you reap the benefits of the fixes for others problems.
• They do not contain new features, functionality, modules, etc that were not part of the initial release.
• They should not have any internal or external API changes. I say should not because you can never predict the nature of a bug, yeah? An internal API change might be necessary, but I think those are going to be kind of rare if they ever happen. External APIs though, those will not be changed.
• They do not require a lengthy upgrade process. You should run the DB upgrade tool, but typically it's not going to have anything to do unless there was a fix that needed to be applied this way.
• They should not require rebuilding any of your customizations. If you've read any of my other posts on OSGi, you're aware that any specific version number you use is treated by OSGi as a version range, and this range would include any of the patch releases. If you have JSP fragments, you'll want to check those to see if maybe the source JSP was updated somehow, but these are likely rare too.

So doing the patch updates bring a lot to the table, plus it's important to note that you are paying for these as part of your subscription, so not applying them means you're leaving money on the table, yeah?

Of course there are going to be some that ask "Can't I just get a hotfix from Support for this one issue that has been fixed?" The short answer is yes, this is possible, but the longer answer points out that this is really a pain for you as well as for Support...

For you, you have to open a support ticket, explain your issue, and even if you know an LPS number for a fix you want, Support is still going to want to verify things. They're like a pharmacist, wanting to verify that they're giving out the right medicine to solve the right problem to the right person. If they don't do their due diligence, they could provide a hotfix that doesn't fix the real issue forcing you to go back and say "it still didn't work" and then ... Pretty soon you have this long, drawn out issue just to get a working hotfix, and then there's all the effort you need to do to apply it into each environment with the patching tool...

And this is a pain for Support, to be honest. They track every version and hotfix each client has. As you request a new hotfix, they have to build a new custom hotfix for you, one that includes the old hotfix plus the new changes, they have to test it out and resolve any cross-cutting issues, they fully test it to ensure it doesn't break, ... It can be a lot of time and effort for them to do these one-off hotfixes.

Finally, when you are ready to do a bump, say 2025.Q1.0 to only 2025.Q1.3 (instead of Q1.14), you may need a special hotfix from Support that is refactored for Q1.3 (one that excludes any fixes that were applied up to and including Q1.3, but includes fixes from after Q1.3 that might be part of a later Q1.14). Having a hotfix puts roadblocks and dampeners on your ability to update and move forward.

So while it might seem easier to just go with a hotfix, it's often more work than necessary for all involved.

So the TL;DR version of this blog: Apply the patch releases, it is totally safe, won't incur a big upgrade penalty, and it is better for everyone than getting a hotfix.

Hopefully this has cleared up some misconceptions that you might have about the patch release.

Obviously, if you find anything here that ends up being incorrect, we'd love to hear about it. Not because I got any of this wrong, but it would indicate that we might have broken the promise of the patch releases and we need to fix it. Liferay wants these patch releases to be used and wants everyone to know they're safe and ready to go, so if something breaks that promise, they're going to want to resolve it and add more checks to prevent it from occurring again.