Sürümİzlencesi

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    This page is a translated version of the page ReleasePlan and the translation is 3% complete.

    Giriş

    Time-based release trains have been shown to produce the best quality Free software. A time based release is one that does not wait for either features, or bug fixes - but is based (as purely as possible) on time. This enforces discipline in introducing fixes, gives predictability, and allows more regular releasing. It is also the case that we will necessarily release earlier, and then rapidly, incrementally bug fix releases based on the previous stable version. Thus if you have a need for the very highest quality version, it can make sense to defer a move until the first or perhaps second minor point release.

    • LibreOffice does bi-annual, predictable releases that are in sync with other Free Software projects (eg. Gnome) and are at least one month ahead major Linux distribution releases.
    • Synchronizing time-based release schedule with the wider Free Software ecosystem also has huge advantages, by getting our new features, out to users as quickly as possible – with a minimum of distribution cycle lag. In consequence, we aim at six monthly releases, and over time nudge them to align well with the March/September norms.
    • There are 2 branches: Fresh (the newest release) and Still (the previous release), which are intended for mainstream feature users and conservative, corporate deployments respectively.
    • As a result, users get new major version every six months with a wide range of features, fixes, and enhancements. In addition, they get many pure bugfix micro releases. The first X.Y.0 release is intended for early adopters. More conservative users are advised to wait for a later X.Y.Z bugfix release.

    Note that the dates mentioned in the schedule might get shifted if there are serious technical or other problems with the release. An extra RC might be needed if the final release candidate has a catastrophic issue. Such a problem could shift the final release by one week or more. The decision should be made in a meeting of the Engineering Steering Committee.

    The simplified graphic below shows three releases placed on a timeline consisting of 24 months.

    Gelecek
    Fresh
    Still

    24.2 release

    Basic dates for the initial and bugfix releases
    Release Freeze Publishing
    24.2.0 (freeze: week 02) Week 47 , Kas 20, 2023 - Kas 26, 2023 Week 05 , Oca 29, 2024 - Şub 4, 2024
    24.2.1 Week 06 , Şub 5, 2024 - Şub 11, 2024 Week 09 , Şub 26, 2024 - Mar 3, 2024
    24.2.2 Week 10 , Mar 4, 2024 - Mar 10, 2024 Week 13 , Mar 25, 2024 - Mar 31, 2024
    24.2.3 Week 15 , Nis 8, 2024 - Nis 14, 2024 Week 18 , Nis 29, 2024 - May 5, 2024
    24.2.4 Week 20 , May 13, 2024 - May 19, 2024 Week 23 , Haz 3, 2024 - Haz 9, 2024
    24.2.5 Week 26 , Haz 24, 2024 - Haz 30, 2024 Week 29 , Tem 15, 2024 - Tem 21, 2024
    24.2.6 Week 33 , Ağu 12, 2024 - Ağu 18, 2024 Week 36 , Eyl 2, 2024 - Eyl 8, 2024
    24.2.7 Week 41 , Eki 7, 2024 - Eki 13, 2024 Week 44 , Eki 28, 2024 - Kas 3, 2024
    End of Life November 30, 2024

    7.6 release

    Basic dates for the initial and bugfix releases
    Release Freeze Publishing
    7.6.0 (freeze: week 30) Week 19 , May 8, 2023 - May 14, 2023 Week 34 , Ağu 21, 2023 - Ağu 27, 2023
    7.6.1 Week 34 , Ağu 21, 2023 - Ağu 27, 2023 Week 37 , Eyl 11, 2023 - Eyl 17, 2023
    7.6.2 Week 38 , Eyl 18, 2023 - Eyl 24, 2023 Week 39 , Eyl 25, 2023 - Eki 1, 2023
    7.6.3 Week 44 , Eki 30, 2023 - Kas 5, 2023 Week 47 , Kas 20, 2023 - Kas 26, 2023
    7.6.4 Week 50 , Ara 11, 2023 - Ara 17, 2023 Week 53 , Oca 1, 2024 - Oca 7, 2024
    7.6.5 Week 05 , Oca 29, 2024 - Şub 4, 2024 Week 08 , Şub 19, 2024 - Şub 25, 2024
    7.6.6 Week 10 , Mar 4, 2024 - Mar 10, 2024 Week 13 , Mar 25, 2024 - Mar 31, 2024
    7.6.7 Week 16 , Nis 15, 2024 - Nis 21, 2024 Week 19 , May 6, 2024 - May 12, 2024
    End of Life June 12, 2024

    See also the detailed schedule and the release notes.


    7.5 release

    Basic dates for the initial and bugfix releases
    Release Freeze Publishing
    7.5.0 (freeze: week 02) Week 47 , Kas 21, 2022 - Kas 27, 2022 Week 05 , Oca 30, 2023 - Şub 5, 2023
    7.5.1 Week 06 , Şub 6, 2023 - Şub 12, 2023 Week 09 , Şub 27, 2023 - Mar 5, 2023
    7.5.2 Week 10 , Mar 6, 2023 - Mar 12, 2023 Week 13 , Mar 27, 2023 - Nis 2, 2023
    7.5.3 Week 15 , Nis 10, 2023 - Nis 16, 2023 Week 18 , May 1, 2023 - May 7, 2023
    7.5.4 Week 20 , May 15, 2023 - May 21, 2023 Week 23 , Haz 5, 2023 - Haz 11, 2023
    7.5.5 Week 26 , Haz 26, 2023 - Tem 2, 2023 Week 29 , Tem 17, 2023 - Tem 23, 2023
    7.5.6 Week 33 , Ağu 14, 2023 - Ağu 20, 2023 Week 36 , Eyl 4, 2023 - Eyl 10, 2023
    7.5.7 Week 38 , Eyl 18, 2023 - Eyl 24, 2023 Week 39 , Eyl 25, 2023 - Eki 1, 2023
    7.5.8 Week 41 , Eki 9, 2023 - Eki 15, 2023 Week 44 , Eki 30, 2023 - Kas 5, 2023
    End of Life November 30, 2023

    See also the detailed schedule and the release notes.

    Dates

    The release is time-based but the schedule defines calendar weeks instead of exact dates. It is because we are always a bit flexible. The release can be delayed by few days because of blocker bugs, build problems, and other technical issues.

    The release consists of several beta and release candidate builds. There are needed several actions for each build. The ideal workflow looks like:

    • Monday: commit deadline; reminder is sent to devel, l10n mailing list before it happens
    • Tuesday: the tag is created on a commit that builds and passes unit-, subsequent-, and smoke-tests; tag is announced on the devel and qa mailing lists
    • Wednesday: builds are uploaded on the early pre-release site; they are announced on the devel and qa mailing lists
    • Thursday: builds are uploaded on mirrors. They are announced via many channels, e.g. mailing lists, twitter
    • Friday: builds are available via the official pre-release site

    The final release is usually announced on Thursday, few days after the final release candidate is out.

    Note that we are very strict about commits to the final release candidate, so full regression test is not needed. It is used as the final build when it passes the needed tests. It is just renamed on mirrors.

    Schedule

    The schedule is based on the following rules:

    • do the major release every six months and synchronize it (at least one month ahead) with major Linux distributions; it always comes with a wide range of features, fixes, and enhancements
    • do a pure bugfix release every month after the main release until it is good enough even for the most conservative people; do it less frequently afterwards
    • do pure bugfix releases, including security fixes, until the next release is ready for most conservative people
    • do not do two builds the same week.

    The result is the following template:

    Interlocking releases
    Event Summer Winter
    x.y feature freeze Jun(b) Dec(b)
    x.y.0 first release Aug(b) Feb(b)
    x.y.1 bugfix release Sep(b) Mar(b)
    x.y.2 bugfix release Oct(b) Apr(b)
    x.y.3 bugfix release Nov(b) May(b)
    x.y.4 bugfix release Dec(b) Jun(b)
    x.y.5 bugfix release Feb(m) Aug(m)
    x.y.6 bugfix release Apr(m) Oct(m)

    Where (b) means the beginning of the month, (m) means the middle of the month and (e) means the end of the month.

    String freeze

    The release plans for the first version of each major release indicate a "hard English string & UI freeze". The idea is to make the lives of translators easier. The translators should be able to trust that no new translatable strings are added into the UI or Help files between the period of the string freeze and release.

    In practice, you should keep an eye on the tagging of the first release candidate. One way to find out, if RC1 has been tagged is to visit the tag view of the LibreOffice core repository in Gerrit and input into the filter field: libreoffice-X.Y.Z. If the results do not contain any entry for libreoffice-X.Y.Z.1, RC1 has not yet been tagged and string changes can still be committed.

    After the first version of a major release is out, correcting mistakes in the UI and Help strings is fine. Any completely new content should target the next major release.

    Version scheme

    We do several builds around each release. The following versioning scheme is used:

    • X.Y.0.0.alphaZ - Zth alpha version of the initial release
    • X.Y.0.0.betaZ - Zth beta version of the initial release
    • X.Y.0.Z - Zth release candidate of the initial release, last rc is considered as final and put on the main download page
    • X.Y.1.Z - Zth release candidate of the 1st bugfix release, last rc is considered as final and put on the main download page

    It seems to be the best compromise with the following advantages:

    • easy to understand for normal users, alpha, beta flags are known from other projects, so they set reasonable expectations
    • correct alphabetical sorting in RPM, Bugzilla
    • “easy” to parse (alpha/beta strings delimited by dot)

    There was a long discussion about this scheme on the mailing list.

    Accelerating the release cycle

    This acceleration of the release cycle involves some considerable release engineering and QA effort. To reduce the cost of these, we work to provide complete (ie. containing all languages) daily snapshots of the master branch to allow continual testing of code improvements. This works partially already, as can be seen/downloaded from here.

    Similarly, we plan to increasingly automate the build process to allow a much lower-touch release flow, and to continue to shrink the footprint of our binaries to allow far more rapid transfer of product-equivalent builds.

    End-of-Life Releases

    A release normally has a lifetime of around nine months. We consider a release to have reached its End of Life (EOL) one month after the last planned release.

    If you want longer term support for a release, you’re encouraged to engage any certified L3 provider who could provide you with the service.

    Because of the amount of data, the releases were split out to ReleasePlan/Archive.