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releng:release-policy [2009/05/28 10:28] – jannis | releng:release-policy [2009/05/28 14:57] – jannis | ||
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[[http:// | [[http:// | ||
- | ==== Planning Phase (1-2 Weeks) ==== | + | ==== Planning Phase (2(+2) Weeks) ==== |
This phase marks the beginning of the release cycle and is used to decide which | This phase marks the beginning of the release cycle and is used to decide which | ||
- | dependencies to use and also to appoint the release team for the cycle. | + | dependencies to use and also to appoint the release team for the cycle (first 2 |
+ | weeks). It eventually leads to the dependency freeze (after 4 weeks). | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Appointing the Release Team === | ||
At the beginning of the planning phase there is a (formal or informal) voting | At the beginning of the planning phase there is a (formal or informal) voting | ||
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this document. | this document. | ||
- | During | + | == Release Team == |
+ | |||
+ | The release team consists of at least two people: one release manager who can | ||
+ | be assisted by others to actually perform the release (tagging, creation of | ||
+ | tarballs, writing release notes and announcements) and another person for | ||
+ | quality assurance (checking if all components compile, tags are in place, | ||
+ | release notes are up to date and so on). This is defined in more detail | ||
+ | below. | ||
+ | |||
+ | These are the release team roles and their responsibilities: | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Release Manager** | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Organization of the release cycle | ||
+ | - Announce deadlines to developers and translators (repeatedly and early enough) | ||
+ | - Overseeing of maintainance and development releases | ||
+ | - Tagging of Xfce-X.Ypre1, | ||
+ | - Generate tarballs from tags (possibly automated) | ||
+ | - Write release notes | ||
+ | - Write release announcements | ||
+ | - Approve fixes of blocker bugs during code freeze | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Release Assistant(s)** | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Update the website(s) | ||
+ | - Make sure API documentation is up to date | ||
+ | - Create bugzilla tags | ||
+ | |||
+ | **QA Official** | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Have an eye on libtool versions of maintanance and development releases | ||
+ | - Remind maintainers about missing NEWS updates | ||
+ | - Double-check the generated tarballs | ||
+ | - Proof-read release announcements | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Individual Maintainers** | ||
+ | |||
+ | - Create component-specific tags for their maintainance and development releases | ||
+ | - Generate tarballs for their maintainance and development releases | ||
+ | - Write ChangeLogs and update NEWS files | ||
+ | - Write component-specific release announcements | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Dependency Freeze === | ||
+ | |||
+ | During | ||
- List the features he wants to implement in the release cycle | - List the features he wants to implement in the release cycle | ||
- Investigate which dependencies are implied by that | - Investigate which dependencies are implied by that | ||
- | At the end of this phase, a decision is made on which dependencies the next | + | At the end of this, a decision is made on which dependencies the next |
- | stable release of the Xfce core desktop will depend | + | stable release of the Xfce core desktop will depend. In particular this |
includes the minimum required versions for all essential dependencies of the | includes the minimum required versions for all essential dependencies of the | ||
- | Xfce core desktop | + | Xfce core desktop. |
- | After that, a mail with the dependencies and planned features for all components | + | Maintainers who were not available during the first 2 weeks of the planning |
- | of the Xfce core desktop is sent to the xfce4-dev@xfce.org and xfce@xfce.org | + | phase have the chance to request dependency changes in the 2 weeks after that. |
- | mailing lists. | + | |
+ | At the end of these 4 weeks, all components enter dependency freeze which means | ||
+ | they may not change | ||
+ | dependencies for are still allowed to be added though. | ||
+ | |||
+ | === Informing the Community === | ||
+ | |||
+ | At the very end of the planning phase, a mail with planned features | ||
+ | dependencies | ||
+ | xfce4-dev@xfce.org and xfce@xfce.org mailing lists. | ||
==== Development Phase (5 Months) ==== | ==== Development Phase (5 Months) ==== | ||
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xfwm4-4.7.3 or thunar-1.3.10). | xfwm4-4.7.3 or thunar-1.3.10). | ||
- | Maintainers are encouraged to do a new development | + | Maintainers are encouraged to do development |
- | feature and that they want to make available to others. Frequent development releases | + | to make available to others. Frequent development releases can act as a replacement |
- | can act as a replacement of the SVN revision versioning we had in the past. If component | + | of the SVN revision versioning we had in the past. If component A depends on a |
- | **A** depends on a new feature in component | + | new feature in component B, A may only be released if there is a development |
- | a development release of **B** shipping this feature. For this to work, libtool | + | release of B shipping this feature. For this to work, libtool versions have to |
- | versions have to be updated properly with every development release. | + | be updated properly with every development release. |
Care has to be taken of the master branch of each component. The master branch | Care has to be taken of the master branch of each component. The master branch | ||
Line 99: | Line 155: | ||
in branches until they are ready (as in: compiling and the component will remain | in branches until they are ready (as in: compiling and the component will remain | ||
functional even after merging the feature(s) into the master branch), to lower | functional even after merging the feature(s) into the master branch), to lower | ||
- | the risk of delaying the final release of the entire Xfce core desktop. This is | + | the risk of delaying the final release of the entire Xfce core desktop. |
- | how the basic development workflow looks like: | + | |
+ | New features breaking APIs or other core components should be communicated. Maintainers | ||
+ | are suggested to prepare other components for these features in a separate branch | ||
+ | before including the features in a new development release. That way the other components | ||
+ | retain their release-ready state. | ||
+ | |||
+ | This is how the basic development workflow looks like: | ||
{{http:// | {{http:// | ||
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where Y has to be an even number. Each of these releases has to include the latest | where Y has to be an even number. Each of these releases has to include the latest | ||
- | development releases of all components of the Xfce core desktop. The version numbers | + | development releases of all components |
- | of these components may (even have to) differ from the naming scheme above. E.g. for | + | releases) |
- | Xfce 4.8.0pre2, xfwm4 could have the version 4.7.17 and Thunar could have 1.1.9. | + | have to) differ from the naming scheme above. E.g. for Xfce 4.8.0pre2, xfwm4 could |
+ | have the version 4.7.17 and Thunar could have 1.1.9. | ||
This means that maintainers don't necessarily have to release new versions of their | This means that maintainers don't necessarily have to release new versions of their | ||
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the start of a new release cycle. | the start of a new release cycle. | ||
- | === Tagging and Branching for Releases === | + | === Freezing before |
- | Starting with code freeze (Xfce X.Ypre3), all core components of the Xfce desktop | + | There are different types of freezing before releases. |
- | are branched. The new branch is called '' | + | |
- | lives for a short period | + | |
- | at this point until the final release, the master branch may only receive translation | + | |
- | updates. With the final release (Xfce X.Y), all core components are tagged (twice, once | + | |
- | with their own version and once with xfce-x.y.0) and branched for the maintenance | + | |
- | cycle (e.g. as thunar-1.2 or xfwm4-4.8). After that, the '' | + | |
- | master (where the development for the next release takes place) and into e.g. thunar-1.2 | + | |
- | or xfwm4-4.8. This is illustrated in the following figure: | + | |
- | {{http:// | + | == Feature Freeze == |
- | [[http:// | + | With Xfce X.Ypre1, all core components enter feature |
+ | only translations and bugfixes are allowed to go into the master branch. | ||
- | === Release Team === | + | == String/UI Freeze |
- | The release team consists of at least two people: one release manager who can | + | With Xfce X.Ypre2, all core components |
- | be assisted by others to actually perform the release (tagging, creation of | + | on no strings which affect translations may be changed. Same goes for the user interface |
- | tarballs, writing release notes and announcements) and another person for | + | which may not be changed after this point. |
- | quality assurance (checking if all components | + | |
- | release notes are up to date and so on). This is defined in more detail | + | |
- | below. | + | |
- | These are the release team roles and their responsibilities: | + | == Code Freeze == |
- | == Release Manager == | + | With Xfce X.Ypre3, all core components enter code freeze which means from there on |
+ | no code changes are allowed, unless they are signed off by the release manager. These | ||
+ | should usually only be fixes to blocking or release-critical bugs. Translations are | ||
+ | still allowed to go in. | ||
- | - Organization of the release cycle | + | === Code Freeze Phase (2+ weeks) === |
- | - Announce deadlines to developers and translators | + | |
- | - Overseeing of maintainance and development releases | + | |
- | - Tagging of Xfce-X.Ypre1, | + | |
- | - Generate tarballs from tags (possibly automated) | + | |
- | - Write release notes | + | |
- | - Write release announcements | + | |
- | - Approve fixes of blocker bugs during code freeze | + | |
- | == Release Assistant(s) == | + | With Xfce X.Ypre3, all core components enter code freeze. This phase is illustrated |
+ | in the following figure and is explained in more detail in this section. | ||
- | | + | {{http:// |
- | | + | |
- | | + | |
- | == QA Official == | + | [[http:// |
- | - Have an eye on libtool versions of maintanance and development releases | + | == Bugfixes/ |
- | - Remind maintainers about missing NEWS updates | + | |
- | - Double-check the generated tarballs | + | |
- | - Proof-read release announcements | + | |
- | == Individual Maintainers == | + | If a core component requires fixes or changes during code freeze, the maintainer |
+ | is required to create a new branch called ELS to which he or she then commits the fixes. | ||
+ | Refer to the section Code Freeze Exceptions if these are release-critical changes or | ||
+ | fixes for blocking bugs. | ||
- | - Create component-specific tags for their maintainance and development releases | + | The ELS branch only lives for a short period of time. Only bugfixes are allowed in |
- | - Generate tarballs for their maintainance and development releases | + | this branch. |
- | - Write ChangeLogs and update NEWS files | + | |
- | - Write component-specific release announcements | + | |
- | === Blocking Bugs === | + | == Code Freeze Exceptions |
- | Certain bugs may delay the final release if they are considered | + | **Blocking Bugs** |
+ | |||
+ | Certain bugs may delay the final release if they are considered | ||
the case under any of the following circumstances: | the case under any of the following circumstances: | ||
Line 199: | Line 247: | ||
* the hardware or architecture on which the bug occurs is exotic and/or there' | * the hardware or architecture on which the bug occurs is exotic and/or there' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Fixes for these bugs are allowed to be applied during code freeze if, and only if | ||
+ | they are signed off by the release manager. | ||
+ | |||
+ | **Release-Critical Changes** | ||
+ | |||
+ | Some changes may be of big concern with regards to the quality of the release. They | ||
+ | are allowed to go in if, and only if they are signed off by the release manager. | ||
+ | |||
+ | == Releasing == | ||
+ | |||
+ | For the final release (Xfce X.Y), all core components are tagged (twice, once | ||
+ | with their own version and once with xfce-x.y.0) and branched for the maintenance | ||
+ | cycle (e.g. as thunar-1.2 or xfwm4-4.8). After that, the ELS branch is merged into | ||
+ | master (where the development for the next release takes place) and into e.g. thunar-1.2 | ||
+ | or xfwm4-4.8. | ||
==== Maintenance Process ==== | ==== Maintenance Process ==== |