Crystal 1.20.2

Crystal 1.20.2 has been released — a maintenance patch that fixes two regressions introduced in the 1.20.x branch. If you are already on Crystal 1.20.0 or 1.20.1, this is a worthwhile upgrade. If you are coming from an older series, read the 1.20.0 release notes first — there is more to unpack there.

What Broke in 1.20.1

The 1.20 release train has been moving fast, but not without bumps. Crystal 1.20.1 shipped some regressions that affected users relying on OpenSSL Kernel TLS and Time formatting. The 1.20.2 release addresses exactly those two issues — no more, no less.

Let us be clear: this is a narrow bug-fix release. If you were not hitting either of those two problems, there is nothing here for you. That is fine. Not every release needs to be groundbreaking.

The Two Fixes

• OpenSSL Kernel TLS — A regression in the crypto module broke TLS connections when using the kernel-backed OpenSSL path. This has been corrected in #16888 (thanks @ysbaddaden).
• Time formatting — The Time#inspect method was producing non-standard date/time strings after the 1.20.0 refactor. The Internet Extended Date/Time Format is now properly respected again (#16039, thanks @straight-shoota).

The Real Story: 1.20.0

If you are evaluating whether to move to the 1.20 line, the 1.20.2 bug fixes are not the deciding factor. The 1.20.0 release in April was where the real changes landed — improved parallel execution, better error handling in the type system, and the usual laundry list of library improvements. Upgrade for those, fix the two regressions with 1.20.2, and move on.

Upgrade Verdict

Low risk, low reward — exactly what a patch release should be. If you are on 1.20.x, update now. If you are on 1.19.x or earlier, the 1.20 series is stable enough to consider the jump. Just do not expect 1.20.2 to change your world.