Tl;dr: Running very old versions of OH long term is possible but it requires work and trade-offs.
A lot of users decide for various reasons to not upgrade openHAB versions.There are some who are still running OH 1.8 from more than half a decade ago. This quick post is going to provide some advice on how to run an old version of OH for as long as possible, as well as a brief discussion of the trade offs of doing so.
Dos
- Minimize change to the system.
- Download the kar file for all the add-ons and put it into your install’s add-on folder. This eliminates an external dependency which helps to minimize change. You can get the 2.5 add-ons kar file from Download openHAB | openHAB.
- Backup everything. Test the backups.
- Have backup identical hardware.
- Document the restore/recovery process.
Don’ts
- Do not upgrade/update your OS. These introduce lots of changes, any one of which might break your home automation.
- Do not install additional software on the machine.
- Do not change any configs including rules, adding new bindings, etc.
- Do not expect much help from the forum if you continue to run an old version of OH. If you minimize changes and you have backups you shouldn’t need much if any help but if you do the best we will be able to offer is to upgrade and see if the problem persists.
Trade-offs
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You really either need to plan your home automation to be static from the start and choose devices and integrations that are local and unchanging or you will be on a forced upgrade path with OH. This is especially true for anything that has a cloud based API. That API can change without notice and your system will become broken. And any adjustments to that binding to support the new API is not going to be back ported. To continue using it you’ll have to upgrade openHAB.
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When avoiding OS upgrades that machine will start to collect more and more known vulnerabilities. Consequently the machine needs additional monitoring and protections to remain safe to use.
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Depending on how long one waits to upgrade, it may become impossible to rebuild the system from scratch. Old versions of software, libraries, and the OS can become unavailable making your full system backups that much more important.
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To successfully run a system long term like this you will need to minimize change which means no more development or even just messing around with the openHAB config. Any change you make might be the one change that breaks it. Once your system gets to about a year beyond its release, your home automation configuration needs to be done until you have the time and inclination to upgrade.