[RFCv2 2/2] doc: Add doc/develop/release_cycle.rst

[Sean Anderson]

Hi Tom,

On 7/12/22 11:33 AM, Tom Rini wrote:
> Migrate the RelaseCycle wiki page to Sphinx.  In terms of visible
> changes, we stop having a dynamic countdown to when the release is.  And
> we drop the year-based statistics, that were not being kept up to date.
> For the moment, we only link to statistics for v2022.07 but will add
> back the historical data in a subsequent patch.
> 
> Cc: Heinrich Schuchardt <xypron.glpk at gmx.de>
> Signed-off-by: Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com>
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - New patch.  Note that I'm not including the v1.3.0 to v2022.04 stats
>   here as while I can generate them, I want to make sure we're happy
>   with how v2022.07 ones look as there is some manual effort involved.
>   It's a reasonable amount of manual effort however for a single release.
> ---
>  doc/develop/index.rst         |  1 +
>  doc/develop/release_cycle.rst | 95 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  2 files changed, 96 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 doc/develop/release_cycle.rst
> 
> diff --git a/doc/develop/index.rst b/doc/develop/index.rst
> index eab00a55382a..73741ceb6a2f 100644
> --- a/doc/develop/index.rst
> +++ b/doc/develop/index.rst
> @@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ General
>     codingstyle
>     designprinciples
>     process
> +   release_cycle
>  
>  Implementation
>  --------------
> diff --git a/doc/develop/release_cycle.rst b/doc/develop/release_cycle.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..dbaaa7210c4e
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/doc/develop/release_cycle.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
> +Release Cycle
> +=============
> +
> +The U-Boot projects attempts to maintain a fixed, predictable Release
> +Cycle as follows:
> +
> +* We will have U-Boot releases at a fixed release interval of (approximately)
> +  every 3 months.
> +
> +* Under normal conditions the release date will be a Monday around mid-month.

I thought you aimed for the first Monday? This is what is stated below as well.

> +* Immediately following each release, there will be a "merge window" of
> +  normally 21 days, i. e. if the release was on a Monday, then the merge window
> +  will close on the Monday in the 3rd week after the release.
> +
> +  While this merge window is open, new features can be added to the U-Boot
> +  source tree. Linus Torvalds explains `here
> +  <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/729504/focus=729507>`_ and `there
> +  <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/729504/focus=729508>`_ what the
> +  term "merge window" is supposed to mean.

I think a link to the process page would be better here.

> +* After the merge window closes, no new features may be added to allow for a
> +  release candidate phase which is intended to fix bugs and regressions.
> +
> +*Note:* While we try to adhere to the release schedule, we will
> +not hesitate and take the liberty to delay a release if there are
> +good reasons, for example if there are known bugs or other technical
> +reasons.  The code will be released when it is considered ready
> +without caring too much about the announced deadline.
> +
> +*Note 2:* Even though we follow Linux ways in may respects,

nit: many

> +there are differences in the actual procedures,
> +which are documented in the :doc:`process`.
> +
> +Version Numbers
> +---------------
> +
> +Starting with the release in October 2008, the names of the releases were
> +changed from numerical release numbers without deeper meaning into a time stamp
> +based numbering.  Regular releases are now identified by names consisting of
> +the calendar year and month of the release date.  Additional fields (if
> +present) indicate release candidates or bug fix releases in "stable"
> +maintenance trees.
> +
> +Examples::
> +
> +  U-Boot v2009.11	- Release November 2009
> +  U-Boot v2009.11.1	- Release 1 in version November 2009 stable tree

>From what I can tell, point releases are very unusual, except for bugs which
break booting (notably excluding security fixes). I believe the lack of point
releases is due to lack of need (since most vendors have their own branch) and
lack of bandwidth. A note here about this would be nice.

> +  U-Boot v2010.09-rc1   - Release candidate 1 for September 2010 release
> +
> +Current Status
> +--------------
> +
> +* U-Boot v2022.07 was released on Mon 11 July 2022.
> +
> +* The Merge Window for the next release (v2022.10) is **open** until -rc1
> +  release on Mon 25 July 2022.
> +
> +* Release "v2022.10" is scheduled for 03 Oct 2022.
> +
> +Future Releases
> +---------------
> +
> +.. * U-Boot v2022.10-rc1 was released on Mon 25 July 2022.
> +
> +.. * U-Boot v2022.10-rc2 was released on Mon 08 August 2022.
> +
> +.. * U-Boot v2022.10-rc3 was released on Mon 22 August 2022.
> +
> +.. * U-Boot v2022.10-rc4 was released on Mon 05 September 2022.
> +
> +.. * U-Boot v2022.10-rc5 was released on Mon 19 September 2022.

Will be? Maybe it's better to use a past release for this if you want to use
concrete dates.

> +Please note that the following dates are for information only and without
> +responsibility:
> +
> +.. Release date:  Generally first Monday of the month
> +.. End of MW = Release Date + 21 d = 3rd Monday of the month
> +
> +* "v2022.10": end of MW = Mon, Jul 25, 2022; release = Mon, Oct 03, 2022
> +
> +* "v2023.01": end of MW = Mon, Oct 24, 2022; release = Mon, Jan 09, 2023
> +
> +* "v2023.04": end of MW = Mon, Jan 30, 2022; release = Mon, Apr 03, 2023
> +
> +* "v2023.07": end of MW = Mon, Apr 24, 2023; release = Mon, Jul 03, 2023 
> +
> +Previous Releases
> +-----------------
> +
> +Note: these statistics are generated by our fork of `gitdm
> +<https://source.denx.de/u-boot/gitdm>`_, which was originally created by
> +Jonathan Corbet.
> +
> +* :doc:`statistics/u-boot-stats-v2022.07` which was released on 11 July 2022.
> 

--Sean