What is ec ?

[dioobspm]

I didn't find what the “ec” in the name of the release mean. Like 4.21.0-okd0-scos.ec.15

What the “ec” stand for. and why I'm end up with ec.15 (I set the channel to 4-stable) after update (today: 2026-02-13)

Is ec stand for something like «early-channel» ? If that is the case which channel I should choose to have a more stable version?

Thanks

[nate-duke]

Engineering Candidate ... modern corporateese for "Release Candidate" i believe.

#2041 (comment) some early discussion about the term here.

[dioobspm]

Thanks for the answer.
If I check the pdf inside the link you give (https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/OpenShift_Release_Types.pdf) I'm not sure I understand how in hell I end up with a ec version ? I've put «stable-4» in the channel update.

[nate-duke]

from time to time I think the EC releases end up in the GA release stream. I recall some discussion about this pretty recently. I'll see if i can dig up the thread.

[nate-duke]

Here's an instance of it happening last year in the 4.19 release: #2226

[dioobspm]

ok thanks.

Am I correct if I say I just have to wait to see the next correct release to appear magically ? Or do I need to change the channel to something like 4.21-stable ?

[nate-duke]

I'm not sure. Might be worth reading through some of the issues/discussions that sprung up around this last time. Someone one else may chime in as well.

I'm just a user, and didn't run into this scenario myself.