GitLab Upgrade Path Resources

Upgrade Path

  1. Current upgrade path in the documentation

  2. Optional: If you are upgrading from an older major version not listed in the docs: Select the upper right corner version field, and chose older versions to get access to earlier versions in the upgrade path.

  3. Optional alternative: follow the interactive suggested path planner in Upgrade Path

Requirements

  1. It is important to install specific versions during the upgrade path. There is no “catch all one time” upgrade procedure.
  2. Ensure that GitLab and GitLab Runner remain compatible in their versions after upgrades.

Recommendations

  1. Review breaking changes and deprecations before upgrades, so you can estimate potential missing features or configuration issues during the upgrade cycles.
  2. Upgrades also include database migrations, and might take a while. Plan with maintenance offline time if the migrations cannot be run in the background.
  3. It is advised to create a backup before upgrading.
  4. Check if the Linux distribution is still supported by the latest GitLab package version. If not, you need to plan with a distribution upgrade in the “middle” of the upgrade path, to gain access to newer GitLab packages again.
    • For example, GitLab 14.6.1 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to GitLab 17.2.1 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
  5. Document shorter upgrade cycles to keep future installations secure and stable, and reduce upgrade maintenance.
    • Review the GitLab release and maintenance policy
    • You can also enable unattended upgrades to automatically install security, patch and feature releases. (this depends on the used OS/distribution and eventually, company policies).

Example forum topics

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A post was split to a new topic: Upgrade GitLab 13.1 CE on Ubuntu?