THIS IS A TEST INSTANCE. ALL YOUR CHANGES WILL BE LOST!!!!
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Apache NetBeans is released quarterly according to the following schedule.
| Date | Release | Description | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January June 15th | Feature freeze . Merge window closes. Only fixes intendedfor next release to be merged into master. Weekly Release Candidate made available . NetCAT lite???for testing. | |||||||||||||
| February 7th - 15th | Voting | July 7th | NB <version>.1 voting candidate created and release vote commences. | |||||||||||
| July February 15th - 31st28th/29th | Apache NetBeans | 11.1 (in 2019)release. | NetBeans 12. | 1 (in 2020)NB <version>.1 released. | July 21st | NB <version>.2 merge window opens. | 3 | NetBeans 13 | NetBeans 17 | NetBeans 21 | ||||
| April | September15th | Feature freeze | . Merge window closesfor next release. | Release branch <version>.2 created and beta build(s) Weekly Release Candidate made available for testing. | ||||||||||
| May 7th | NB <version>.2 voting- 15th | Voting candidate created and release vote commences. | ||||||||||||
| May 15th - 31st | Apache NetBeans | 11release. | 2 (in 2019)NetBeans 12. | 2 (in 2020)NB <version>.2 released. | October 21st | NB <version>.3 merge window opens. | 0 | NetBeans 12.4 | NetBeans 14 | NetBeans 18 | NetBeans 22 | |||
| July | December15th | Feature freeze | . Merge window closesfor next release. | Release branch <version>.3 created and beta build(s) Weekly Release Candidate made available for testing. | ||||||||||
| August 7th | NB <version>.3 voting- 15th | Voting candidate created and release vote commences. | ||||||||||||
| August 15th - 31st | Apache NetBeans | 11release. | 3 (in 2020)NetBeans 12. | 3 (in 2021)NB <version>.3 released. (Start NetCAT with this release here???) | January 21st | 1 | NetBeans 12.5 | NetBeans 15 | NetBeans 19 | NetBeans 23 | ||||
| October | NB <version+1>.0 merge window opens. NetCAT announced and signups begin. | February 15th | Feature freeze | . Merge window closesfor next release. | Release branch <version+1>.0 created and beta build(s) made available.February 21st | NetCAT testing phase starts. | March 21st | NetCAT testing ends. NetCAT community acceptance vote. | Weekly Release Candidate made available for testing. | |||||
| November 7th - 15th | Voting | April 7th | NB <version+1>.0 votingcandidate created and release vote commences. | |||||||||||
| November 15th - 30th | LTSApache NetBeans release. | NetBeans 12. | 0 (in 2020)2 | NetBeans | 13.0 (in 2021)NB <version+1>.0 LTS released. | April 21st | NB <version+1>.1 merge window opens. GOTO 10 |
NB. The dates here are deliberately mid-month, two weeks after previously suggested. Because no-one wants to do a release on New Years Eve, and it potentially gives a little more leeway in releasing / testing with JDK releases?
Questions still to be answered?
- What is NetCAT lite? Do we need to consider labelling in PRs for specific NetCAT sections / tribes to be consulted?
- Kafka page (below) has both feature freeze and code freeze (blockers only) dates - do we need similar?
- Would the dates above be better specified to always be on the same day - eg. as week in the year, or second Wednesday in April, etc.?
- How much of the release process can be configurable in the build? Could we get to a point that release branches are not required, and a tag could be used - is that desirable?
- Do we allow limited bypass of feature freeze? By mailing list vote?
- Do we need a short-lived general "next" branch or specific short-lived feature branches to merge PRs where there's a need to collaborate or bring together interdependent things after feature freeze?
- ... ???
Impetus
In mid-2018 there was a rough consensus on moving to a fixed three-month schedule for Apache NetBeans release. However, as of May 2019 we had not fully achieved that transition, with some aspects of feature-based releasing still in play (eg. September release earmarked as NB12 because it will contain C/C++ support, but what if that's not ready?).
This page attempts to pull together various comments made on the dev@ mailing list, along with some other projects' reasoning and methodology around time-based releasing (non-comprehensive links below!). It attempts to pull in various thoughts people have made about simplifying the release process, how NetCAT realistically fits in with this new release schedule, whether such frequent releases can be as stable, and whether all users (particularly corporate / education) want to update so frequently?
Links
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ff506c4a56f267a1b616c18ae218301b3e6d386ce618940e32faaea3@%3Cdev.netbeans.apache.org%3E - lazy consensus thread on adopting this schedule
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ea5189b51477cfca2b18e9c122872d36ab3ef6d9babf27c4aa649c3d@%3Cdev.netbeans.apache.org%3E - discussion thread on this schedule
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/903873879219d2852e0889b14e4e8d1e4135c15bbe68f370245d10ad@%3Cnetcat.netbeans.apache.org%3E - original discussion thread on quarterly releases
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/cc5575ac4173b8a934e78d300b1063013606be00ffc7d8d30b00419b@%3Cdev.netbeans.apache.org%3E - another original discussion thread on quarterly releases
Time Based Release Plan - Apache Kafka
| 12.6 | NetBeans 16 | NetBeans 20 | NetBeans 24 |
Key points
- Four releases a year on known dates (within reason, weekends, blockers, etc.).
- Each release has a fixed and well known feature-freeze date. Features may be targeted for releases, but no promises are made of features being included unless they have been merged to master by that date.
- Everything merged to master at all times prior to feature freeze is intended and ready to be included in the next scheduled release. Keep master releasable!
- Merging earlier rather than later in the merge window is to be encouraged!
- After the feature freeze date, fixes intended for the release should be merged to delivery until the next feature window opens. The delivery branch will be merged to both master and release branches on a weekly schedule.
- All fixes merged to delivery after the feature-freeze date should be assessed and reviewed in accordance with the Bug Priority Guidelines
History
In 2019 there was a decision to move towards a time-based, quarterly release schedule for Apache NetBeans releases. This started from Apache NetBeans 11.1, and retrospectively designated Apache NetBeans 11.0 as an LTS release.
At the end of 2019 the schedule was shifted back by one month, to avoid the end of year period. At the end of 2020, master freezing was replaced by a move to a delivery and release branch mechanism.
In early 2021, a decision was made to review the process and requirements for LTS releases, and in October 2021 a decision was made to concentrate solely on quarterly releases, changing the numbering scheme accordingly. No further LTS release will be made.
Further details, notes, and discussions : Notes and Discussions on the Release Schedulehttps://wiki.mozilla.org/Release_Management/Calendar - Firefox release schedule