Need a new label - Transition of LTS

[zaq42]

Problem

Primary labels and aliases are:

• lts,
• latest, current

Until last week, current was the newest version of node 24, which will be the next lts version. lts was (and is still` the newest version of node 22 which has now moved from active support to security support.

Last week, node 25 was released and that's what current now returns. In fact, latest, active, current all return 25.0.0, while lts, lts_active, lts_latest, supported all return 22.21.0.

Node recommends that odd versions should not be used in production since they become unsupported after six months.

Production applications should only use Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases.

We are in the transition period where 24 has been active for six months and will be lts, but currently, there is no label in n that resolves to node 24, so I've had to change my script from n latest to n 24 and will have to remember to change it again next year.

IMO, for consistency with Node.js terminology, active should never resolve to an odd version, although current may. (See the diagram below)

Alternatively, lts_active should now resolve to 24, since 22 is now in maintenance.

Image from Node.js Releases:

Configuration Details

$ n --version
10.2.0

$ node -p process.platform
darwin

[MikeMcC399]

@zaq42

Node recommends that odd versions should not be used in production since they become unsupported after six months.

Production applications should only use Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases.

We are in the transition period where 24 has been active for six months and will be lts, but currently, there is no label in n that resolves to node 24, so I've had to change my script from n latest to n 24 and will have to remember to change it again next year.

If you are concerned about stability for production usage, then you should probably be using the label lts which will transition to point to Node.js 24 in the next few days on Oct 28, 2025 - see Release schedule.

[shadowspawn]

Node 24 will be LTS soon, as @MikeMcC399 identified.

Note that 24 is not in LTS yet, so it is not recommended yet for production according to the description you quoted.

Node recommends that odd versions should not be used in production since they become unsupported after six months.

Production applications should only use Active LTS or Maintenance LTS releases.

If you look at the description of the support aliases, you will see nothing has 14 as its newest Node.js version at the time of the description, which I think is similar to now with none of the support aliases resolving to 24 in n: https://github.com/nodejs/package-maintenance/blob/main/docs/PACKAGE-SUPPORT.md

(There is an argument for lts_active not resolving to anything right now, but is perhaps too surprising to be useful.)

[shadowspawn]

For interest, pkgjs/nv uses the support aliases and can return multiple matches, unlike n which only resolves to the newest one. It does show an empty lts_active right now!

% npx @pkgjs/nv ls lts_active             
% npx @pkgjs/nv ls lts_latest |  grep \"version\"
  "version": "22.21.0",
% npx @pkgjs/nv ls lts |  grep \"version\" 
  "version": "20.19.5",
  "version": "22.21.0",

[zaq42]

I appreciate the comments. The diagram is a little unclear on the dates, endoflife.date/nodejs is more specific... The source for that is probably here.

Right now:

25: Active support (ending 1Apr26), Security support (ending 1.Jun26)
24: (Upcoming LTS): Active support (ending 20Oct26), Security support (ending 30Apr28)
23: end of life five months ago
22: (LTS): Active support ended three days ago, Security support ends 30Apr27

There are three versions that are valid choices (Active Support) today: 22, 24, 25 and there are good reasons for choosing each.

During this transition phase, there is no way to pick the one with the longest support cycle.

As you say, perhaps 24 is not production ready UNTIL it is considered LTS, but 25 will never be. My pattern would be to use 24 in development, so that we can confidently adopt it in production.

The confusion arises (perhaps) from the fact that 24 and 25 are both current right now.
Maybe there should be a different label for a current odd release?

There is active discussion on this point. My view is that n should help users confidently choose which stream they want. The release cycle has been stable enough for that to be reasonably safe.

I would be happy if stable resolved to 24 now (it's currently 22).

[shadowspawn]

(I have subscribed to some of those discussions about other release patterns, thanks.)

[shadowspawn]

24 is now lts, so problem won't show up again for a year or two...

$ n --lts
24.11.0

[shadowspawn]

Meeting minutes from Node.js Collab Summit: nodejs/Release#1126