Which OpenMRS version is best for long term deployment?

Greetings Everyone!

I am currently trying to deploy 2.0.4.1 release of OpenMRS platform on Ubuntu & I am experiencing errors. Some go away after restarting tomcat server. It seems to me that the version 2.x is not currently battle tested. Can you please suggest an LTS version of OpenMRS that is best for long term deployment and can be upgraded to the next LTS version? Please also suggest the recommended versions of the softwares like MySQL, Tomcat etc.

That is our latest stable release and hence our recommendation. If you are getting errors, you will need to share the error details such that we help you identify the cause.

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Thank @dkayiwa for your response. I was running 2.0.4.1 on Ubuntu 16.04 with

  • MySQL 5.7
  • Tomcat 8.5.13

I think, as I found in some old posts on this forum, that they got their errors resolved by downgrading to MySQL 5.6. Would you recommend 5.7? Is OpenMRS completely compatible with 5.7?

5.7 should be fine!

Which version of OpenMRS is the most stable and has the most community support. The latest version is OpenMRS 2.7 but i don’t know if its stable and if we can get community support (from other people using same) Thanks

@brightoibe like @dkayiwa earlier said,the community always recommends the latest release,reason being,it usually contains ,most importantly bug fixes and new features for user consumption. Have you seen

https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/docs/Reference+Application+2.7.0#ReferenceApplication2.7.0-NewFeatures

https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/RES/Release+Notes+2.7.0

https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/RES/Releases

As Tendo says, and Daniel says earlier on the thread, we always recommend our latest stable release.

Typically you would find more installations running older versions versus a just-released version, but you should start from a newer version anyway, because otherwise you’re just setting yourself up for needing to do an expensive upgrade sooner.

Also, to the big picture question of “What OpenMRS to use” you should consider broadly:

  • the OpenMRS Platform (which would be the basis of an EMR application, which you’d completely build on top of that)
  • one of the OpenMRS Distributions of which the two general purpose ones are the Reference Application, and Bahmni.

@brightoibe, I know that you have a larger list of questions to go with this one. Would you mind posting those as a new topic in the #dev category?

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@tendomart. Thanks for your prompt response. Does the OpenMRS community sponsor or organize any Developer Bootcamp targeted at teaching the core OpenMRS development technologies like Spring MVC, Maven, Git, SASS, AngularJS, JQuery and Java Web services especially for people grounded in J2SE. I have been trying to read them up on my own but this is not easy especially for working class developers. Bootcamps are very good educational style for working class developers to grasp key technologies. I will love to initiate one in Nigeria if am mentored.

Copying in @ssmusoke to share his experiences of running bootcamps in Uganda.

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@brightoibe I shared my experience with a bootcamp in Uganda here https://ssmusoke.com/2017/12/01/ugandaemr-bootcamp-strengthening-the-foundation-for-a-national-emr/

I would recommend the following approach:

  1. Coordinate with your Ministry of Health and partners supporting the ministry, to identify a target feature for the bootcamp. This will be a deliverable focusing all that is taught and the follow-on support to deploy in the field
  2. In order to get a handle on the different technologies, I would suggest starting to work on OpenMRS tickets - start with those tagged community-priority as they are easy for you to start and get better
  3. Keep asking lots of questions here on Talk - you will get help
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After installing Java 8 and MySQL 5.7, I would suggest you setup the OpenMRS SDK (https://wiki.openmrs.org/display/docs/OpenMRS+SDK) this will greatly simplify your development efforts

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@brightoibe i think there is more than enough that my seniors (@darius ,@ssmusoke and @dkayiwa ) have mentioned ,but for things like

my personal experience is ,there is more than enough resources on the internet,that have to prepare you for OpenMRS development. Boot camps like @ssmusoke said you may have to collaborate with your local ministry of health ,which may not exhaust any of the subjects of your concern.

you may want to look at tutorialspoint.com for extra / non-specific OpenMRS technologies.