@kapa.ai What is the lifecycle of Airbyte versions?

The knowledge sources don’t describe a formal “lifecycle policy” (like exact support end-dates) for Airbyte platform versions, so the following is limited to what is explicitly documented. - Airbyte ships regular Self-Managed releases, and Cloud always runs the latest version. [[Release notes](https://docs.airbyte.com/release_notes)] - New major platform versions are announced via release notes (e.g., 1.0, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.0), which summarize new features and architectural changes. [[Release notes](https://docs.airbyte.com/release_notes); [Airbyte 1.0](https://docs.airbyte.com/release_notes/v-1.0)] - For Helm-based deployments, Airbyte 2.0 is explicitly called out as **the final version that supports Helm chart v1**; from 2.1 onward, only Helm chart v2 is supported. This implies that upgrading beyond 2.0 requires migrating to Helm chart v2. [[Airbyte 2.0](https://docs.airbyte.com/release_notes/v-2.0#final-version-with-helm-chart-v1-support)] - The Airbyte Protocol itself is versioned with semantic versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH). When Airbyte removes support for older protocol versions during a platform upgrade, the bootloader checks that all active connectors are still compatible; if not, the upgrade is aborted and you must upgrade those connectors first. This is a safeguard to keep older connectors working across platform upgrades. [[Protocol versioning](https://docs.airbyte.com/platform/understanding-airbyte/airbyte-protocol-versioning)] - Connectors also follow semantic versioning and are updated independently of the platform: - Cloud: minor/patch connector updates are applied automatically; major updates are announced and then auto-applied after a window. [[Managing connector updates](https://docs.airbyte.com/platform/managing-airbyte/connector-updates)] - Self-managed: all connector updates (major/minor/patch) are opt‑in via the UI; major updates require a two-step opt‑in and are recommended to be applied promptly to avoid compatibility issues. [[Managing connector updates](https://docs.airbyte.com/platform/managing-airbyte/connector-updates)] Beyond these points, the docs do not specify a detailed lifecycle (e.g., how long each platform version is supported), so anything more specific would be outside the provided information.