What's New in DS Server 4.0
With version 4.0, DS Server runs on Linux as well as on Windows, and the download archive holds two builds instead of one. Version 4.1.0 followed with plugins, custom assemblies that DS Server loads at startup. What follows lists both releases by area, and what to change when you move an installation of version 3.x to 4.x.
Releases
| Release | Date | Based on | .NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0.0 | April 30, 2025 | TX Text Control 33.0 | .NET 8 |
| 4.1.0 | September 26, 2025 | TX Text Control 33.0 SP3 | .NET 8 |
The dates are those of the release announcements.
Installation and Platforms
- Linux support. DS Server 4.0 runs on Linux: on virtual machines, on bare-metal servers, in Linux Docker containers and on Linux platform services such as Azure App Service for Linux or AWS Elastic Beanstalk. It still runs on Windows. Core and Classic explains which build runs where.
- Two builds in the archive. The download archive has two folders: core holds the cross-platform build, which the change log calls the Linux version, and classic holds the Windows build. Each folder has its own CHANGELOG.md.
- Limits of the Linux version. On Linux, DS Server loads and saves documents in DOCX, HTML, PDF and XLSX only. It loads and saves images in PNG, JPG and BMP, and loads TIFF and GIF images without saving them. It renders pages as SVG only, not as bitmaps. Supported File Formats compares the builds.
- Built-in fonts. Version 4.0 brings its own font system, so fonts no longer have to be installed on the server for consistent rendering. The core folder contains a Fonts folder with a set of open fonts and their licenses.
- Linux containers. Standard Linux containers replace the Windows containers that earlier versions needed, which makes the images smaller. Installing using Docker (Core on Linux) builds such an image.
- Official Docker image. Since May 2, 2025, Text Control publishes the image
txtextcontrol/dsserver-coreon Docker Hub. Installing with Official Image from Docker Hub runs it. - .NET 8. DS Server 4.0 is built with .NET 8 and needs the ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0. Classic also needs the .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0.
Plugins
- Plugin support (4.1.0). A plugin is a .dll that DS Server loads at startup. It can register its own ASP.NET Core API controllers, add middleware and route handlers, register services, read the DS Server configuration and run code when DS Server starts and stops. Plugins explains the concept.
- The
IPlugininterface. A plugin implementsIPluginfrom the NuGet packageTXTextControl.DocumentServices.Plugin.Abstractions, and is copied into its own subfolder of the Plugins folder of the installation. DS Server loads it after a restart. Creating a Plugin walks through a first plugin, and the .NET API reference lists the interfaces. - Sample plugin. The repository TXTextControl.DocumentServices.SamplePlugin on GitHub registers a controller and a middleware.
Document Processing, Document Editor and Document Viewer
- TX Text Control 33.0. All three services use the document processing engine of TX Text Control 33.0, and 33.0 SP3 from 4.1.0 on.
- Fixes in 4.1.0. For its bug fixes, the change log of 4.1.0 refers to the list of fixed issues of TX Text Control .NET Server 33.0.
Upgrading
- Choose a build. Replace the files of a version 3.x installation on Windows with the classic folder, or deploy the core folder on Linux or on Windows. The archive no longer has the files at its root, so scripts and Dockerfiles that unpack it need the folder name in their paths.
- Check the formats on Linux. Before you move a Windows installation to Linux, check that your documents and images use formats that the Linux version supports, and that no code requests bitmap page images.
- Install .NET 8. Version 3.x ran on .NET 6. Install the ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0 and, for Classic, the .NET Desktop Runtime 8.0. The Requirements list the runtimes of the current version.
- Update the client packages. Use the version 4.0 or 4.1 releases of the NuGet and npm client packages.
Upgrading describes the steps of an upgrade.