A system and method for determining whether a rolling update may be performed. The system receives a statement of compatibility for software running on collaborating servers. The statement of compatibility indicates which software versions are compatible with one another. The statement may be stored in a shared storage area that is accessible to each of the servers in the group. The statement may be updated at any time if compatibility issues are determined after release of a software version. The system and method check the statement of compatibility automatically upon the start of an update process for a server. If the statement of incompatibility indicates that the server starting up is incompatible with an operating server, the start up process is aborted.