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Schedule for and Status of the Xfce 4.20 Development Cycle

UPDATE 202402: See also the Wayland Roadmap page for important development details

Schedule

Read the Xfce Release Model to understand why this cycle is the way it is.

Dates Phase/Deadline Everyone's Tasks Release Team Tasks Maintainer Tasks
01.11.24 Xfce 4.20pre1 (Feature + String Freeze) Install + Test pre1 when available Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4.20pre1 Make sure the latest development release is in good shape and uploaded. Please no new features or string changes.
01.12.24 Xfce 4.20pre2 (Code Freeze) Install + Test pre2 when available Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4.20pre2 Please only bugfixes or release blockers
(15.12.24) Xfce 4.20pre3 (Final Freeze) Install + Test pre3 when available This is an optional release (release team decides whether we need or skip it in favor of the final release)
15.12.24 (~29.12.24 with pre3) Xfce 4.20 (Final Release) Celebrate Prepare release announcements, release Xfce 4.20, branch for stable release, merge ELS branches into master Make sure to upload a new release of own components before this deadline

Changes that Affect the Entire Xfce Core

  • Get rid any CYGWIN Macros (Nobody out there builds Xfce for Windows)
  • Fix deprecation warnings from our own libraries (e.g. xfce_titled_dialog_new_with_buttons() or xfce_spawn_on_screen())
  • Migrate from intltool to gettext and use XDT_VERSION_INIT (get rid of configure.ac.in): see https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/xfce4-dev-tools/-/issues/41

Please don't take the issues listed on the milestone pages as obligatory. Keep in mind that they may or may not make it into the 4.20 release, depending on the time the individual developers have.

Sumup GitLab Milestone for 4.20

For quick access, open 4.20 issues by component:

Changes in Dependencies

  • glib-2.0 >= 2.72
    • Same version for gmodule-2.0, gobject-2.0, gthread-2.0, gio-2.0 and gdbus
  • gdk-pixbuf-2.0 >= 2.42.8
  • gobject-introspection >= 1.72
  • wayland 1.20
  • wayland-protocols 1.25
  • gtk-layer-shell 0.7.0

Release TODO List

  • [x] Release manager: To simplify communication with core-devs-only, create some mailing group in your mail software
  • [x] Draft Pre1 announce blogpost (including wallpaper contest).link to old contest (next time separate issue for submission and voting, if possible!)
  • [x] Write mail to core devs and ask them to bump the copyright-year (AC_COPYRIGHT, helptext, docs), the minimum glib/gtk versions and do dev releases
  • [x] Release Manager: Enable Gitlab email-notify on all core components in order to don't miss some critical report
  • [x] Pre1 Release
    • [x] Make sure all dev releases are up-to-date / do dev releases if required (bump as well the overall version in util)
    • [x] Provide Xfce 4.20pre1 Wiki page, tag pre1 on each component and write pre1 release mail via release manager
    • [x] Publish pre1 blogpost (together with wallpaper contest)
  • [x] Genrate changelog via script + thin out Changelog and ask core-devs to review.
  • [ ] Draft final release blog post (Content to be used as well for online tour) and ask core-devs to review.
  • [ ] 15. November - submission deadline for wallpaper contest … one week of voting –> Write a blog post
  • [ ] Draft a “pre2 blogpost” (use the new wallpaper!), ask core-devs to review
  • [ ] Few days before pre2: Write message to core devs: reminder dev releases for pre2 if required
  • [ ] Pre2 Release
    • [ ] Make sure all dev releases are up-to-date / do dev releases if required (bump as well the overall version in util)
    • [ ] Provide Xfce 4.20pre2 Wiki page, tag pre2 on each component and write pre2 release mail via release manager
    • [ ] Publish pre2 blog post
  • [ ] Prepare new website on 4.20 branch of www and cdn, reuse pictures and text from the blog (Skunnyk will create www-new.xfce.org + 4.20 branches for testing). Hint: update this date in order to force a cache update for cdn + don't forget to clear your browser cache.
  • [ ] Update xfce4-about/contributors
  • [ ] Add screenshots using the new wallpaper to https://gitlab.xfce.org/www/www.xfce.org/-/tree/xfce-4.20
  • [ ] Update docs.xfce.org (new features, new screenshots where it is required)
  • [ ] Few days before final release: Write message to core devs: reminder final release / any blockers ?
  • [ ] Final Release
    • [ ] Do releases with new platform version for all core-components (bump as well the overall version in util)
    • [ ] docs.xfce.org - Create 4.20 doc structure and copy all files over there (Kevin?)
    • [ ] Publish new website https://gitlab.xfce.org/www/www.xfce.org/-/tree/xfce-4.20 (Romain will take care of that)
    • [ ] Provide Xfce 4.20 Wiki page, write Xfce4.20 release mail via release manager
    • [ ] Transifex: Create 4.20 branch and remove 4.14/4.16 branch (Romain?)
    • [ ] Publish final blog post (similar to online tour), use the new wallpaper,
    • [ ] Publish Twitter/Mastodon tweet (ochosi/knome/maggotbrain)
    • [ ] Create 4.20.1 and 4.21.0 milestones for all core-components
  • [ ] Check as well all Xfce apps, panel plugins and thunar plugin if it makes sense to release some of them
    • [ ] app1
    • [ ] app2
    • [ ] …
  • [ ] Celebrate