# Product release lifecycle

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The alpha and beta stages replace the previously used Early Access (deprecated) programs.
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## Alpha <a href="#alpha" id="alpha"></a>

Products or features in the alpha stage have limited functionality and are subject to significant change or cancellation. Access is invitation-only. Products or features in alpha are not covered under SLA.

## Beta <a href="#beta" id="beta"></a>

Products or features in the beta stage have nearly complete functionality. Access is by request and requires approval. Products or features in beta are not covered under SLA.

## General availability (GA) <a href="#general-availability" id="general-availability"></a>

A public release of a product or feature. It includes all planned functionalities and is available to customers for purchase. A GA product is publicly announced by Sonar, fully functional, stable, documented, supported, and covered under SLA.

## About Early access features <a href="#about-early-access-features" id="about-early-access-features"></a>

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**Deprecation notice:** The Early Access stage is deprecated in favor of the alpha, beta, and GA stages. If the feature you’re using is in Early Access, it is still functional, but new feature releases now follow the alpha > beta > GA configuration.
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Sonar makes some features available as [Early Access](https://www.sonarsource.com/legal/early-access/) releases. They are excluded from service level agreements (SLAs) and support obligations.

## Enabling and disabling Early Access features <a href="#enabling-and-disabling-early-access-features" id="enabling-and-disabling-early-access-features"></a>

If early access features are available for your SonarQube instance, you can enable and disable them as an administrator from the **Administration** > **General Settings** > **Early Access Features** tab.

## Configuring Misra Compliance 2023 C++ Early Access <a href="#configuring-misra-compliance-early-access" id="configuring-misra-compliance-early-access"></a>

*This feature is available starting in SonarQube Server Enterprise edition.*

By default, when MISRA C++ 2023 rules are applied during analysis, a scanner warning informs developers that additional MISRA C++ 2023 Early Access rules can be enabled on their instance. As an instance administrator, you can activate or deactivate this warning by passing a scanner property at the instance level.

To do this, set the `sonar.cfamily.misra.warnNewRules` scanner property to `true` or `false` in your `$<INSTALL_DIRECTORY>/conf/sonar-scanner.properties` file.

Developers can disable this message at the scanner level when they configure the analysis (see [customizing-the-analysis](https://docs.sonarsource.com/sonarqube-server/2025.2/analyzing-source-code/languages/c-family/customizing-the-analysis "mention")).