Versioning and Upgrade Guide

This document explains version compatibility and upgrade expectations for cBioPortal.

Supported Versions

Version	Status	Database	Development
v7	Active	ClickHouse only	Active
v6	Maintenance	MySQL	Security fixes only

v7 Database Compatibility

Starting with v7, cBioPortal:

• Uses ClickHouse as the sole database backend
• Does not support MySQL
• Is not compatible with:
  • v6 portal configuration files
  • v6 study importer tools
  • Existing MySQL-based deployments

Upgrading from v6 to v7 requires re-deploying the portal and re-importing studies using v7-compatible tooling.

v6 Maintenance Policy

v6 is maintained in the maintenance-v6 branch:

• Only important security fixes will be released
• No bug fixes or new features
• No compatibility updates for new data sources

Users who cannot migrate immediately to v7 should remain on the latest v6 maintenance release.

Choosing the Right Version

• New deployments: Use v6 until the first stabilized v7 release
• Existing v6 deployments:
  • May stay on v6 short-term
  • Plan migration to v7
• Development and contributions:
  • Target master (v7)
  • Do not open PRs against v6 unless requested for security

Migrating from v6 to v7

⚠️ Important: cBioPortal v7 uses ClickHouse as its database, which has a fundamentally different schema from the v6 MySQL database. There is no in-place upgrade path from v6 to v7. Existing v6 deployments must:

1. Set up a new v7 deployment using Docker Compose
2. Reimport all studies into the new v7 database using metaImport.py
3. Rebuild derived tables after all imports are complete

See the full v6 to v7 Migration Guide for step-by-step instructions.

Migration Notes

Detailed migration guides will be provided as v7 stabilizes. At a minimum, migration involves:

• Switching to ClickHouse
• Updating deployment configuration
• Re-importing studies using v7 tooling