Merge pull request #12756 from electron/support-policy

Support policy

README.md

@@ -89,22 +89,8 @@ Find documentation translations in [electron/i18n](https://github.com/electron/i
 
 ## Community
 
-You can ask questions and interact with the community in the following
+Info on reporting bugs, getting help, finding third-party tools and sample apps,
-locations:
+and more can be found in the [support document](docs/tutorial/support.md#finding-support).
-- [`electron`](https://discuss.atom.io/c/electron) category on the Atom
-forums
-- `#atom-shell` channel on Freenode
-- [`Atom`](https://atom-slack.herokuapp.com) channel on Slack
-- [`electron-ru`](https://telegram.me/electron_ru) *(Russian)*
-- [`electron-br`](https://electron-br.slack.com) *(Brazilian Portuguese)*
-- [`electron-kr`](https://electron-kr.github.io/electron-kr) *(Korean)*
-- [`electron-jp`](https://electron-jp.slack.com) *(Japanese)*
-- [`electron-tr`](https://electron-tr.herokuapp.com) *(Turkish)*
-- [`electron-id`](https://electron-id.slack.com) *(Indonesia)*
-- [`electron-pl`](https://electronpl.github.io) *(Poland)*
-
-Check out [awesome-electron](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome-electron)
-for a community maintained list of useful example apps, tools and resources.
 
 ## License
 

docs/README.md

@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ an issue:
   * [DevTools Extension](tutorial/devtools-extension.md)
   * [Automated Testing with a Custom Driver](tutorial/automated-testing-with-a-custom-driver.md)
 * [Application Distribution](tutorial/application-distribution.md)
-  * [Supported Platforms](tutorial/supported-platforms.md)
+  * [Support](tutorial/support.md)
   * [Mac App Store](tutorial/mac-app-store-submission-guide.md)
   * [Windows Store](tutorial/windows-store-guide.md)
   * [Snapcraft](tutorial/snapcraft.md)

docs/development/issues.md

@@ -26,10 +26,9 @@ contribute:
 
 ## Asking for General Help
 
-Because the level of activity in the `electron/electron` repository is
+["Finding Support"](../tutorial/support.md#finding-support) has a
-so high, questions or requests for general help using Electron should
+list of resources for getting programming help, reporting security issues,
-be directed at the [community slack channel](https://atomio.slack.com)
+contributing, and more. Please use the issue tracker for bugs only!
-or the [forum](https://discuss.atom.io/c/electron).
 
 ## Submitting a Bug Report
 

docs/tutorial/support.md

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+# Electron Support
+
+## Finding Support
+
+If you have a security concern,
+please see the [security document](../../SECURITY.md).
+
+If you're looking for programming help,
+for answers to questions,
+or to join in discussion with other developers who use Electron,
+you can interact with the community in these locations:
+- [`electron`](https://discuss.atom.io/c/electron) category on the Atom
+forums
+- `#atom-shell` channel on Freenode
+- [`Electron`](https://atom-slack.herokuapp.com) channel on Atom's Slack
+- [`electron-ru`](https://telegram.me/electron_ru) *(Russian)*
+- [`electron-br`](https://electron-br.slack.com) *(Brazilian Portuguese)*
+- [`electron-kr`](https://electron-kr.github.io/electron-kr) *(Korean)*
+- [`electron-jp`](https://electron-jp.slack.com) *(Japanese)*
+- [`electron-tr`](https://electron-tr.herokuapp.com) *(Turkish)*
+- [`electron-id`](https://electron-id.slack.com) *(Indonesia)*
+- [`electron-pl`](https://electronpl.github.io) *(Poland)*
+
+If you'd like to contribute to Electron,
+see the [contributing document](../../CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
+If you've found a bug in a [supported version](#supported-versions) of Electron,
+please report it with the [issue tracker](../development/issues.md).
+
+[awesome-electron](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome-electron)
+is a community-maintained list of useful example apps,
+tools and resources.
+
+## Supported Versions
+
+The latest three release branches are supported by the Electron team.
+For example, if the latest release is 2.0.x, then the 2-0-x series
+is supported, as are the two previous release series 1-7-x and 1-8-x.
+
+When a release branch reaches the end of its support cycle, the series
+will be deprecated in NPM and a final end-of-support release will be
+made. This release will add a warning to inform that an unsupported
+version of Electron is in use.
+
+These steps are to help app developers learn when a branch they're
+using becomes unsupported, but without being excessively intrusive
+to end users.
+
+If an application has exceptional circumstances and needs to stay
+on an unsupported series of Electron, developers can silence the
+end-of-support warning by omitting the final release from the app's
+`package.json` `devDependencies`. For example, since the 1-6-x series
+ended with an end-of-support 1.6.18 release, developers could choose
+to stay in the 1-6-x series without warnings with `devDependency` of
+`"electron": 1.6.0 - 1.6.17`.
+
+## Supported Platforms
+
+Following platforms are supported by Electron:
+
+### macOS
+
+Only 64bit binaries are provided for macOS, and the minimum macOS version
+supported is macOS 10.9.
+
+### Windows
+
+Windows 7 and later are supported, older operating systems are not supported
+(and do not work).
+
+Both `ia32` (`x86`) and `x64` (`amd64`) binaries are provided for Windows.
+Running Electron apps on Windows for ARM devices is possible by using the
+ia32 binary.
+
+### Linux
+
+The prebuilt `ia32` (`i686`) and `x64` (`amd64`) binaries of Electron are built on
+Ubuntu 12.04, the `armv7l` binary is built against ARM v7 with hard-float ABI and
+NEON for Debian Wheezy.
+
+[Until the release of Electron 2.0][arm-breaking-change], Electron will also
+continue to release the `armv7l` binary with a simple `arm` suffix. Both binaries 
+are identical.
+
+Whether the prebuilt binary can run on a distribution depends on whether the
+distribution includes the libraries that Electron is linked to on the building
+platform, so only Ubuntu 12.04 is guaranteed to work, but following platforms
+are also verified to be able to run the prebuilt binaries of Electron:
+
+* Ubuntu 12.04 and newer
+* Fedora 21
+* Debian 8
+
+[arm-breaking-change]: https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/tutorial/planned-breaking-changes.md#duplicate-arm-assets

docs/tutorial/supported-platforms.md

@@ -1,37 +1 @@
-# Supported Platforms
+Moved to [support.md](support.md)
-
-Following platforms are supported by Electron:
-
-### macOS
-
-Only 64bit binaries are provided for macOS, and the minimum macOS version
-supported is macOS 10.9.
-
-### Windows
-
-Windows 7 and later are supported, older operating systems are not supported
-(and do not work).
-
-Both `ia32` (`x86`) and `x64` (`amd64`) binaries are provided for Windows.
-Please note, the `ARM` version of Windows is not supported for now.
-
-### Linux
-
-The prebuilt `ia32` (`i686`) and `x64` (`amd64`) binaries of Electron are built on
-Ubuntu 12.04, the `armv7l` binary is built against ARM v7 with hard-float ABI and
-NEON for Debian Wheezy.
-
-[Until the release of Electron 2.0][arm-breaking-change], Electron will also
-continue to release the `armv7l` binary with a simple `arm` suffix. Both binaries 
-are identical.
-
-Whether the prebuilt binary can run on a distribution depends on whether the
-distribution includes the libraries that Electron is linked to on the building
-platform, so only Ubuntu 12.04 is guaranteed to work, but following platforms
-are also verified to be able to run the prebuilt binaries of Electron:
-
-* Ubuntu 12.04 and later
-* Fedora 21
-* Debian 8
-
-[arm-breaking-change]: https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/master/docs/tutorial/planned-breaking-changes.md#duplicate-arm-assets