diff mbox series

[ovs-dev,2/9] release-process: Switch to two releases per year.

Message ID 20230525182217.2280366-3-mmichels@redhat.com
State Superseded
Headers show
Series OVN Release Policy Updates | expand

Checks

Context Check Description
ovsrobot/apply-robot success apply and check: success
ovsrobot/github-robot-_Build_and_Test success github build: passed
ovsrobot/github-robot-_ovn-kubernetes fail github build: failed

Commit Message

Mark Michelson May 25, 2023, 6:22 p.m. UTC
Based on discussions that have occurred on the development mailing list
and public IRC meetings, we have decided to reduce OVN to having two
releases per year instead of four.

When OVN initially spun off from OVS, the amount of feature requests and
performance improvements were happening at a rapid pace. Releasing every
three months made it possible to get these changes released rapidly.

OVN has reached a point now where the number of new features has
decreased. And the new features being requested are more complex and
could use a longer lead time to be implemented.

Therefore, this change makes OVN's release policy change to having two
releases per year instead of four.

Given that we now have a longer time between releases, this change also
gives a longer time for soft freeze and testing the branches before
release.

Signed-off-by: Mark Michelson <mmichels@redhat.com>
---
 Documentation/internals/release-process.rst | 23 ++++++++-------------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)

Comments

Dumitru Ceara May 26, 2023, 12:36 p.m. UTC | #1
Hi Mark,

Thanks for putting this together!

On 5/25/23 20:22, Mark Michelson wrote:
> Based on discussions that have occurred on the development mailing list
> and public IRC meetings, we have decided to reduce OVN to having two
> releases per year instead of four.
> 
> When OVN initially spun off from OVS, the amount of feature requests and
> performance improvements were happening at a rapid pace. Releasing every
> three months made it possible to get these changes released rapidly.
> 
> OVN has reached a point now where the number of new features has
> decreased. And the new features being requested are more complex and
> could use a longer lead time to be implemented.
> 
> Therefore, this change makes OVN's release policy change to having two
> releases per year instead of four.
> 
> Given that we now have a longer time between releases, this change also
> gives a longer time for soft freeze and testing the branches before
> release.

It makes sense to give more time for testing but..

> 
> Signed-off-by: Mark Michelson <mmichels@redhat.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/internals/release-process.rst | 23 ++++++++-------------
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst b/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
> index d9aabf8d1..dd19744f9 100644
> --- a/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
> @@ -120,19 +120,19 @@ with an unspecified date.
>  Release Scheduling
>  ------------------
>  
> -OVN makes releases at the following three-month cadence.  All dates are
> +OVN makes releases at the following six-month cadence.  All dates are
>  approximate:
>  
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
>  | Time (months) | Example Dates       | Stage                                |
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
> -| T             | Dec 1, Mar 1, ...   | Begin x.y release cycle              |
> +| T             | Mar 1, Sep 1, ...   | Begin x.y release cycle              |
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
> -| T + 2         | Feb 1, May 1, ...   | "Soft freeze" main for x.y release   |
> +| T + 4         | Jul 1, Jan 1, ...   | "Soft freeze" main for x.y release   |
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
> -| T + 2.5       | Feb 15, May 15, ... | Fork branch-x.y from main            |
> +| T + 5         | Aug 1, Feb 1, ...   | Fork branch-x.y from main            |
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+

.. your proposal here gives a whole month for soft freeze.  That's a
whole month without any features allowed on the main branch and might
become frustrating for people working on new features.

With this new release strategy I think we expect less features to be
completed close to the end of the development cycle (in theory they'll
be distributed across 5 months) so in my opinion it's OK to assume that
the number of features and size of code that still needs to be reviewed
during soft freeze is similar to what we have today in a soft freeze period.

Therefore, I'd vote for keeping a soft freeze window of 2 weeks.

> -| T + 3         | Mar 1, Jun 1, ...   | Release version x.y.0                |
> +| T + 6         | Sep 1, Mar 1, ...   | Release version x.y.0                |
>  +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
>  
>  Release Calendar
> @@ -140,7 +140,8 @@ Release Calendar
>  
>  The 2023 timetable is shown below. Note that these dates are not set in stone.
>  If extenuating circumstances arise, a release may be delayed from its target
> -date.
> +date. Also note that the release policy changed partway through 2023, which is
> +why the release dates and timetables do not line up with the example above.
>  
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
>  | Release | Soft Freeze | Branch Creation | Release |
> @@ -151,21 +152,15 @@ date.
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
>  | 23.09.0 | Aug 4       | Aug 18          | Sep 1   |
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
> -| 23.12.0 | Nov 3       | Nov 17          | Dec 1   |
> -+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
>  
>  Below is the 2024 timetable
>  
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
>  | Release | Soft Freeze | Branch Creation | Release |
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
> -| 24.03.0 | Feb 2       | Feb 16          | Mar 1   |
> -+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
> -| 24.06.0 | May 10      | May 24          | Jun 7   |
> -+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
> -| 24.09.0 | Aug 9       | Aug 23          | Sep 6   |
> +| 24.03.0 | Jan 5       | Feb 2           | Mar 1   |
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
> -| 24.12.0 | Nov 8       | Nov 22          | Dec 6   |
> +| 24.09.0 | Jul 5       | Aug 2           | Sep 6   |
>  +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
>  
>  Contact

Regards,
Dumitru
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst b/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
index d9aabf8d1..dd19744f9 100644
--- a/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
+++ b/Documentation/internals/release-process.rst
@@ -120,19 +120,19 @@  with an unspecified date.
 Release Scheduling
 ------------------
 
-OVN makes releases at the following three-month cadence.  All dates are
+OVN makes releases at the following six-month cadence.  All dates are
 approximate:
 
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
 | Time (months) | Example Dates       | Stage                                |
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
-| T             | Dec 1, Mar 1, ...   | Begin x.y release cycle              |
+| T             | Mar 1, Sep 1, ...   | Begin x.y release cycle              |
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
-| T + 2         | Feb 1, May 1, ...   | "Soft freeze" main for x.y release   |
+| T + 4         | Jul 1, Jan 1, ...   | "Soft freeze" main for x.y release   |
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
-| T + 2.5       | Feb 15, May 15, ... | Fork branch-x.y from main            |
+| T + 5         | Aug 1, Feb 1, ...   | Fork branch-x.y from main            |
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
-| T + 3         | Mar 1, Jun 1, ...   | Release version x.y.0                |
+| T + 6         | Sep 1, Mar 1, ...   | Release version x.y.0                |
 +---------------+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
 
 Release Calendar
@@ -140,7 +140,8 @@  Release Calendar
 
 The 2023 timetable is shown below. Note that these dates are not set in stone.
 If extenuating circumstances arise, a release may be delayed from its target
-date.
+date. Also note that the release policy changed partway through 2023, which is
+why the release dates and timetables do not line up with the example above.
 
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
 | Release | Soft Freeze | Branch Creation | Release |
@@ -151,21 +152,15 @@  date.
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
 | 23.09.0 | Aug 4       | Aug 18          | Sep 1   |
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
-| 23.12.0 | Nov 3       | Nov 17          | Dec 1   |
-+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
 
 Below is the 2024 timetable
 
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
 | Release | Soft Freeze | Branch Creation | Release |
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
-| 24.03.0 | Feb 2       | Feb 16          | Mar 1   |
-+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
-| 24.06.0 | May 10      | May 24          | Jun 7   |
-+---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
-| 24.09.0 | Aug 9       | Aug 23          | Sep 6   |
+| 24.03.0 | Jan 5       | Feb 2           | Mar 1   |
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
-| 24.12.0 | Nov 8       | Nov 22          | Dec 6   |
+| 24.09.0 | Jul 5       | Aug 2           | Sep 6   |
 +---------+-------------+-----------------+---------+
 
 Contact