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Beta Objectives
The objectives of the Beta release are to:
- Publicly release installable media versions of a code complete test release: Beta is the last widely co-ordinated test release point in any given release cycle
- Finish testing Fedora 20 Changes
- Identify as many F20 Final blocker bugs as possible
Beta Release Requirements
In order to be released to the general public, a compose must meet all of the following criteria. This is intended to make the decision process as clear and straightforward as possible. Mostly met items are incomplete until they are met. Optional and nice to have items should not be included in this list.
There may be times where a requirement is unmet only in a particular configuration, such as with some keyboard layouts but not others, or if a particular character is used in a username, password or passphrase. In such cases, the release team should use their judgement and refer to precedent to determine whether or not the issue should be considered to block the release. They should consider the number of users likely to be affected by the issue, the severity of the case when the issue is encountered, and the ease or otherwise with which the issue can be avoided by both informed and uninformed users.
The term release-blocking desktops means all the desktop environments in which bugs are currently considered capable of blocking a Fedora release. The current set of release-blocking desktops for x86_64 is GNOME and KDE, and for aarch64 is GNOME. Note that bugs in desktops that are not part of this set which would infringe these criteria automatically qualify for freeze exception status, according to the freeze exception bug process.
The term release-blocking images means all the images in which bugs are currently considered capable of blocking a Fedora release. The current set of release-blocking images includes the images defined by the three Editions - Server, Workstation and IoT - in their product requirement documents and/or technical specifications, the Everything network install image, key Cloud images, and the KDE live image. The canonical list of release-blocking images for Fedora 40 is on this page.
Process requirements
Alpha criteria met
All Fedora 20 Alpha Release Criteria must be met.
Beta blockers CLOSED
All bugs blocking the Beta tracker must be CLOSED.
Image size requirements
The release-blocking images must meet current size requirements.
Initialization requirements
Release-blocking images must boot
All release-blocking images must boot in their supported configurations.
Release-blocking live and dedicated installer images must boot when written to optical media of an appropriate size (if applicable) and when written to a USB stick with any of the officially supported methods.
This criterion differs from the similar Alpha criterion only in that it requires all supported methods of writing a Fedora USB stick to work, not just any single one.
Upgrade requirements
For each one of the release-blocking package sets, it must be possible to successfully complete an upgrade from a fully updated installation of the previous stable Fedora release with that package set installed.
The release-blocking package sets are the minimal set, and the sets for each one of the release-blocking desktops.
This criterion applies to the recommended upgrade mechanisms only.
The upgraded system must meet all release criteria.
- Initial upgrade criterion was part of initial Fedora 13 criteria revision
- Adjusted to require upgraded system to work 2011-03-28
- Adjusted to refer to 'officially supported upgrade mechanisms' rather than specifying particular methods: proposed 2012-09-24, implemented 2012-10-03
- Wording slightly re-organized as part of the major Fedora 19 criteria revision
- Interpreted to require all fedup methods to work (or at least both repository and ISO file) in 2013-12-02 blocker review meeting
- Test cases:
Virtualization requirements
Self hosting virtualization
The release must be able host virtual guest instances of the same release.
This rather concise criterion means effectively means that both virtual host and virtual guest functionality must work - it's implied, if you think about it. It also means that there must be no showstopper bugs in the installer when installing to a virtual machine...
...when using Fedora's recommended virtualization technology, that is. This criterion applies only to the recommended Fedora virtualization tools - the qemu/kvm - libvirt - virt-manager stack.
- Initial virtualization criterion was part of initial Fedora 13 criteria revision
- Revision to explicitly cover both guest and host functionality was proposed 2011-09-07
- Proposal was heavily amended after discussion, particularly a suggestion by Albert Graham, to be more concise and to cover guest functionality when host runs previous release
- Amended proposal was implemented 2011-10-14
- Test cases: QA:Testcase_Install_to_Current_KVM, QA:Testcase_install_to_VirtIO
Guest on previous release
The release must install and boot successfully as a virtual guest in a situation where the virtual host is running the previous stable Fedora release.
This criterion applies only to the recommended Fedora virtualization tools - the qemu/kvm - libvirt - virt-manager stack.
- Initial virtualization criterion was part of initial Fedora 13 criteria revision
- Revision to explicitly cover both guest and host functionality was proposed 2011-09-07
- Proposal was heavily amended after discussion, particularly a suggestion by Albert Graham, to be more concise and to cover guest functionality when host runs previous release
- Amended proposal was implemented 2011-10-14
- Test case: QA:Testcase_Install_to_Previous_KVM
Contingency Plan
- If all of the Beta Release Requirements are not met by 20:00 UTC on Wednesday the week prior to release day, the release will be delayed by one week so that the Beta Release Requirements can be met.
- One week will be added to all remaining tasks in the release schedule, including the final release date.
- This decision will be made at the Go/No-Go Meeting.
Confirming Beta Requirements
QA has the responsibility of determining whether the criteria for the release has been met (as outlined above) through discussion with Development and Release Engineering. QA's findings will be reviewed and discussed at the Go/No-Go Meeting.