Is it safe to install beta/rc modules on production site?

By nikkubhai on 10 Jan 2011 at 16:23 UTC

Is it safe to install beta/rc modules on production site? It may seem to be a really stupid question but I am really getting confused since even the alpha/beta/rc modules are under recommended downloads.

Comments

Generally you shouldn't

JustinJohnson commented 10 January 2011 at 17:10

Generally you shouldn't. The reason they are marked as beta/rc is that they aren't ready for production.

With that being said it isn't always a black/white issue. Sometimes you really need the functionality and it is only available in a beta version or dev version. You need to weigh in a security risk. If your site was compromised, what damage can be done? Do you hold sensitive information about your users? Are you willing to take that risk?

Also, although any module could contain code that could allow your site to be hacked, some modules may work a little closer to security risks. For instance, I would be more likely to use a beta/rc version of a module that just displays images than one that handles credit card numbers.

Thanks

nikkubhai commented 10 January 2011 at 17:39

Thanks Justin, I wanted to use entity and ckeditor modules

Not just security but stability

mcfilms commented 10 January 2011 at 18:36

I think a module might also be considered beta because it hasn't been widely tested yet and perhaps all functions don't work as expected. Certainly security is an issue too.

By the way, I am successfully using both of those modules on my D7 production site without any ill effects. I am also using the alpha version of Views.

_{A list of some of the Drupal sites I have designed and/or developed can be viewed at motioncity.com}

I will recommend not to use

Utkarsh Harshit commented 21 April 2017 at 09:23

I will recommend not to use Beta version for sites like production as per it is not stable .It is modified u can find some more functionality than previous one but it is not well secured.....Wait until it becomes green(stable).

By definition that is unknown

mmjvb commented 21 April 2017 at 10:07

In the software industry these labels have a certain meaning. Unfortunately, not all developers abide by that definition. Fact is that only a Stable release is known not to have certain defects. That doesn't mean it is save! It only means it passed certain tests.

So, by definition, a beta is not unsafe, it is only not known to be of certain quality. That doesn't mean it doesn't have that quality.

Investigating the quality by doing your own testing should help you to decide whether you can use it in production. Suggest to look further than only the release label. Other factors are: developer, number of severe issues, number of used sites (for that version) and probably more.

Understanding versioning using x-dev

bas123 commented 14 October 2023 at 01:38

When a distribution shows the latest version as lets say: XXYYZZ.15.11.0

but after running #composer update -W the resulting version is marked as XXYYZZ.15.11.x-dev, is it safe for the Production website?

Or must we wait until XXYYZZ.15.11.0 is ready?

I ask because I have been unable to do a local development since Acquia discontinued Dev Desktop and have never pushed from a local machine to a Production environment. Therefore, I run multiple stages of development sites in subdomains on my hosted account and then recreate the desired changes in Production once they are ready.

So, just as long as I can better understand all of the version numbering sequences, I should be safe, yes?

Thank you in advance for any insights!