OCB Purpose

Odoo Community Backports (OCB) Purpose

Odoo's policy can be seen as to keep current Odoo version "as is", fixes goes is next version. The OCA backport some of them in OCB repository.

Odoo's maintain its versions 4 years only, encouraging users to jump in new versions every year. OCB's versions receive patches and fixes as long as someone can dedicate work on it. Have a look on commits history for each version to see if it is maintained.

These two threads explains OCB benefit a bit, but are they still accurate ?

• https://www.odoo.com/forum/help-1/question/odoo-v8-vs-saas-6-vs-ocb-v8-what-s-the-difference-58606 for the time Odoo wasn't very stable
• https://odoo-community.org/groups/contributors-15/contributors-45694 "The future of OCB" on OCA list in 2016

OCB has no new features only a share branch to get bugfix faster applied and they only accept changes if you submit your fix against the official version to prevent to be a fork in the end. Some new features can be back port as a module for the previous version.

OCB accept fixes and backports for a long time.

FAQ

• Can I fix bugs directly in OCB ?

All updates must be submitted to the official odoo branch for adoption in the official odoo release before they can be considered for the OCB version. Like odoo v8 only bug fixes are accepted and migration to the next LTS version is possible through either odoo or the community migration scripts.

• Do I need the Odoo CLA signed to submit a patch to OCB branches ?

No. But as you need to submit your patch upstream, Odoo SA will probably ask you to sign it. The OCA encourages you to carefully read this document, as it allows Odoo s.a. to relicense your contribution. Some important contributors from the OCA have signed that document because this eases the work of the core maintainers and the OCB maintainers.

• Does it contains backports ?
• Does it contains fixes that are not on same Odoo version, but on higher versions ?
• Does it maintains versions that are no more maintained by Odoo ?
• Why is it sometimes behind Odoo ? does it concern minor updates ?
• Why should we use OCB instead of Odoo nightly ?