# Latest release and LTS versions from server (for use in CI)?
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537
**Category:** General Usage
**Created:** [November 12, 2024, 9:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537 "2024-11-12T09:54:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@t-bltg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/t-bltg)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 9:54am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/1 "2024-11-12T09:54:40Z")
It has probably been asked before, but how can I programmatically and reliably get the **latest** stable julia version and **latest lts** stable version from an official server e.g. `julialang.org` or `julialang.net` using simple linux tools (e.g. `curl` and `grep` ?)
I don’t think the [JSON release feed](https://julialang.org/downloads/#json_release_feed) can help with that.
---
### Author:  [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 11:23am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/2 "2024-11-12T11:23:05Z")
Any reason not to use `juliaup`, i.e. just `juliaup add release`, `juliaup add lts`?
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### Author:  [@t-bltg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/t-bltg)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 11:29am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/3 "2024-11-12T11:29:15Z")
This is to use in ci in scripts, hence no `juliaup` available.
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### Author:  [@xgdgsc](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/xgdgsc)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/4 "2024-11-12T12:14:40Z")
[https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/juliaup/DBVERSION](https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/juliaup/DBVERSION) Then [julialang-s3.julialang.org/juliaup/versiondb/versiondb-1.0.55-x86\_64-unknown-linux-gnu.json](https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/juliaup/versiondb/versiondb-1.0.55-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.json)
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### Author:  [@t-bltg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/t-bltg)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/5 "2024-11-12T16:47:20Z")
Thanks @xgdgsc.
In case it helps anyone, here is my solution:
```julia
function available_channels()
juliaup = "https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/juliaup"
for i ∈ 1:6
buf = PipeBuffer()
Downloads.download("$juliaup/DBVERSION", buf)
dbversion = VersionNumber(readline(buf))
dbversion.major == 1 || continue
buf = PipeBuffer()
Downloads.download("$juliaup/versiondb/versiondb-$dbversion-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.json", buf)
json = JSON.parse(buf)
haskey(json, "AvailableChannels") || continue
return json["AvailableChannels"]
sleep(10i)
end
end
"""
julia> is_latest("lts")
julia> is_latest("release")
"""
function is_latest(variant)
channels = available_channels()
ver = VersionNumber(split(channels[variant]["Version"], '+') |> first)
dev = occursin("DEV", string(VERSION)) # or length(VERSION.prerelease) < 2
!dev && VersionNumber(ver.major, ver.minor, 0, ("",)) ≤ VERSION < VersionNumber(ver.major, ver.minor + 1)
end
################
import JSON, Downloads
@show is_latest("lts") is_latest("release")
```
EDIT: plain `julia` implementation using `Downloads`.
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### Author:  [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/6 "2024-11-12T19:52:28Z")
While this works now, I should say that we don’t treat the format of any of these files as a public API, i.e. we might change those at any point without warning as we update Juliaup.
> [@t-bltg](#):
>
> This is to use in ci in scripts, hence no `juliaup` available.
What kind of CI system? There is a GitHub action that installs Juliaup, and we also have portable versions of Juliaup available that should make it very easy to get Juliaup onto a system. So my gut feeling is that the best solution would be 1) download and extract Juliaup, 2) call `juliaup` to add whatever Julia you need.
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### Author:  [@t-bltg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/t-bltg)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 6:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/7 "2024-11-13T06:25:30Z")
It’s github action, but I’m not going to pull `juliaup` for a few bytes, it feels like using a hammer to kill a mosquito.
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### Author:  [@davidanthoff](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/davidanthoff)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2024, 7:25pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/latest-release-and-lts-versions-from-server-for-use-in-ci/122537/8 "2024-11-13T19:25:08Z")
Juliaup is extremly small, less than a handful of MB. [GitHub - julia-actions/install-juliaup: GitHub Action that installs Juliaup (and uses Juliaup to install Julia)](https://github.com/julia-actions/install-juliaup) is the action to install it. I think you’ll get a _much_ more stable and reliable solution if you use it rather than fiddling with unofficial file downloads that we might change at any time…