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| {{autolang|base=yes}} | | {{fedoradocs: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/releases/lifecycle/}} |
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| The Fedora Project releases a new version of Fedora approximately every 6 months and provides updated packages (maintenance) to these releases for approximately 13 months. This allows users to "skip a release" while still being able to always have a system that is still receiving updates.
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| == Release Dates ==
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| Our schedule intentionally includes some "buffer" weeks, with early and later release targets. Predictable release dates benefit end users planning on upgrades, downstream distros making their schedules based on our work, and of course our own developers working on getting features to users. End users (and the press!) should plan on the release being available by the "Target date #1" milestone.
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| But you know that "trick" where to keep yourself from being late you set all of your clocks ahead by five minutes? For a month or two, it works—you're on time everywhere!—but then you start to compensate because you know that extra time is built in. We've put out Fedora Linux releases on time for the past few years, and in order to keep doing that, we need to keep seriously aiming for the early target. That way, when we do need it, we can actually use the built in time. Fedora contributors should plan on having the release done by the "Early target" milestone.
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| == Development Schedule ==
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| We say ''approximately every 6 months'' because like many things, they don't always go exactly as planned. The schedule is not strictly time-based, but a hybrid of time and quality. The milestone releases are [[QA:Release_validation_test_plan|tested]] for compliance with the [[Fedora Release Criteria]], and releases will be delayed if this is not the case.
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| The schedule for the release currently under development, {{FedoraVersion|full|next}}, is on its [https://fedorapeople.org/groups/schedule/f-{{FedoraVersionNumber|next}}/f-{{FedoraVersionNumber|next}}-key-tasks.html release schedule] page. Beta, and General Availability (final) releases happen at 14:00 UTC.
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| === Development Planning ===
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| Fedora development planning is handled by the [[Changes/Policy|Release Planning Process]]. So-called ''Changes'' are proposed, initially reviewed, and monitored through the development process by the [[Fedora_Engineering_Steering_Committee|engineering steering committee]].
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| === Development Process ===
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| Fedora uses a system involving two 'development' trees. [[Releases/Rawhide|Rawhide]] is a constantly rolling development tree. No releases are built directly from Rawhide. Approximately 10 weeks before the planned date of a Fedora release, a tree for that release is "[[Releases/Branched|Branched]]" from the Rawhide tree. At that point the Rawhide tree is moving towards the release ''after'' the new Branched release, and the pending release is stabilized in the Branched tree.
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| {{admon/tip|Birth of a Fedora|This means that development of a Fedora release is considered to begin at the time its ''predecessor'' branches from Rawhide. For instance, development on {{FedoraVersion|long|next}} began the day after {{FedoraVersion|long}} branched from Rawhide and entered the stabilization process.}}
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| After the [[Updates Policy#Bodhi enabling|Bodhi activation point]], the [[Bodhi]] system is permanently active on the Branched release (all the way until it goes EOL), and requirements for updates to be marked as ''stable'' are set out in the [[Updates Policy]]. Packages must go through the [[Repositories#updates-testing|''updates-testing'']] repository for the release before entering its [[Repositories#stable|''stable'']] repository, according to rules defined in the updates policy: these rules tighten gradually from Beta through to post-GA (Final), but the basic process does not change.
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| For some time prior to a milestone (Beta, Final) release a [[Milestone freezes|freeze]] is in effect which prevents packages moving from ''updates-testing'' to ''stable'' except in accordance with the [[QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process|blocker]] and [[QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process|freeze exception]] bug policies. This freeze is lifted once the milestone is finished, and so packages begin to move from ''updates-testing'' to ''stable'' as normal again, until the next milestone's freeze date.
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| === Schedule Methodology ===
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| Fedora release schedules are proposed by the [[Fedora_Program_Management|Fedora Program Manager]] and ratified by the [[FESCo | Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo)]], with input from other groups. FESCo is responsible for overseeing the technical direction of the Fedora distribution. A core schedule is created using the key tasks listed below. Detailed team schedules are built around these dates.
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| ''Note: When referring to '''Beta/Final Target''', we refer to an planned date. When referring to '''Beta/Final release''' only, we refer to a date the release has actually happened.''
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| {|border="1"
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| !Task/Milestone !! Start Day (Tuesdays or Thursdays) !! Length
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| | Planning and Development || ''Branch point'' of ''previous release'' plus '''one day''' || Variable
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| | [[Changes/Policy#For_Developers|Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for Changes requiring ''Mass rebuild'']] || Tue: ''Mass rebuild'' minus '''3 weeks''' || n/a
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| | [[Changes/Policy#For_Developers|Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for System Wide Changes]] || Tue: ''Mass rebuild'' minus '''1 week''' || n/a
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| | style="background:lightgrey;" | '''Mass rebuild''' || ''Branch point'' minus '''5 weeks''' || Until ''Branch point''
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| | [[Changes/Policy#For_Developers|Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for Self Contained Changes]] || Tue: ''Branch point'' minus '''3 weeks''' || n/a
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| | style="background:lightgrey;" | '''[[Releases/Branched|Branch point]]''' || Tue: ''Preferred Beta Release Target'' minus '''5 weeks''' || n/a
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| | [[Changes/Policy#For_Developers|Changes Checkpoint: Completion deadline (testable)]] || Tue: '''Same day''' as ''Branch point'' || N/A
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| | String Freeze || Tue: ''Branch point'' plus '''1 week''' || [[Software String Freeze Policy]] in effect until ''Final Release (GA)''
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| | [[Updates Policy#Bodhi activation|Bodhi activation point]] || Tue: ''Preferred Beta Target'' minus '''3 weeks''', '''Same day''' as ''Beta Freeze'' || [[Bodhi]] enabled and [[Updates_Policy]] requirements in effect until ''EOL''
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| | [[Milestone freezes | Beta Freeze]] || Tue: ''Preferred Beta Target'' minus '''3 weeks''' || [[QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process]] and [[QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process]] in effect until ''Beta Release''
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| | [[Changes/Policy#For_Developers|Changes Checkpoint: 100% code complete deadline ]] || Tue: '''Same day''' as ''Beta Freeze'' || N/A
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| | [[QA:SOP_compose_request|Beta release candidates]] || Any time after ''Beta Freeze'' || Until ''Beta Release''
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| | Beta [[Go_No_Go_Meeting]] || '''Thu''' @ 13:00 E{D,S}T: planned ''Preferred Beta Target'' '''minus five days''' (repeats if No-Go) || n/a
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| | style="background:lightgrey;" | '''Preferred Beta Target'''|| Tue: ''Preferred Final Target'' minus '''5 weeks''' || Live until ''GA release''
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| | Beta Target #1|| Tue: ''Preferred Beta Target'' plus '''1 week''', ''Preferred Final Target'' minus '''4 weeks''' || n/a
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| | [[Milestone freezes | Final Freeze]] || Tue: ''Preferred Final Target'' minus '''2 weeks''' || [[QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process]] and [[QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process]] in effect until ''Final Release (GA)''
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| | [[QA:SOP_compose_request|Final release candidates]] || Any time after ''Final Freeze'' || Until ''Final Release (GA)''
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| | Final [[Go_No_Go_Meeting]] || '''Thu''' @ 13:00 E{D,S}T: planned ''Final Release (GA)'' '''minus five days''' (repeats if No-Go) || n/a
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| | style="background:lightgrey;" | '''Preferred Final Target''' || Tue: '''Primary date''' from which rest of schedule derives<br>This date is either the Tuesday before May 1st or October 31st. || n/a
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| | Final Target #1 || Tue: ''Preferred Final Target'' plus '''1 week''' || n/a
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| | Maintenance || Tue: '''Same day''' as ''Final Release (GA)'' || ~'''13 Months'''
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| | End of Life || ''Final Release (GA) of next-but-one release'' plus '''four weeks''' || n/a
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| |}
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| === Development Schedule Rationale ===
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| Fedora generally develops new releases over a six month period to provide a regular and predictable release schedule. The bi-annual targeted release dates are the third Tuesday of April and October, making them easy to remember and for avoiding significant holiday breaks. Changes to this standard must be approved by the community-elected [[FESCo | Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo)]].
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| A six month release schedule also follows the precedence of Red Hat Linux (precursor to Fedora). Former Red Hat software engineer Havoc Pennington offers a historical perspective [http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.redhat.fedora.advisory-board/1475/ here]. GNOME started following a time based release based on the ideas and success of Red Hat Linux and other distributions following Fedora having adopted a similar release cycle. Several other major components, including the Linux kernel, Openoffice.org, Xorg, have started following a time based release schedule. While the exact release schedules vary between these components and other upstream projects, the interactions between these components and Fedora makes a six month time based release schedule a good balance.
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| Although due to how planning process and release validation works, Fedora is not a strictly time based distribution, but uses combination of both time and feature based release paradigms. This way we can react to bigger changes aka new installed, way how we release bits (Fedora.Next) etc.
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| === Schedule Contingency Planning ===
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| If ''Mass rebuild'' is not completed on time, all the subsequent milestones starting with ''Branch point'' are pushed back for one week until the ''Mass rebuild'' is completed.
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| If the Beta [[Go_No_Go_Meeting]] results in a "No Go" determination, rescheduling of the milestone and subsequent milestones follows these rules:
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| * Slip of the Beta from the Preferred Target to Target #1 does not affect Final Release (GA) date. The Final Release (GA) date remains on ''Preferred Final Target''.
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| * Slip of the Beta to Target #1 adds a new ''Beta Target #2'' and Final Release (GA) slips to ''Final Target #1'' (and we don't yet add a ''Final Target #2'').
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| * Slip of the Beta past Target #N (where N >= 2) adds a new ''Beta Target #(N+1)'' and also adds a new ''Final Target #N''
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| If the Final [[Go_No_Go_Meeting]] results in a "No Go" determination, that milestone and subsequent milestones will be pushed back by one week.
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| One week is added to the schedule to maintain the practice of releasing on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are the designated release day because they are good days for news coverage and correspond to the established day we synchronize our content with the mirrors that carry our releases. Be aware of holidays and of possible PR conflicts (contact Fedora PR) with the new proposed final date.
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| Go/No Go meetings receive input from representatives of [[Fedora_Engineering_Steering_Committee|FESCo]], [[ReleaseEngineering|Release Engineering]], and [[QA|Quality Assurance]].
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| == Maintenance Schedule ==
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| We say maintained for ''approximately 13 months'' because the supported period for releases is dependent on the date the release under development goes final. As a result, ''Release X'' is supported until one month (4 weeks) after the release of ''Release X+2''.
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| This translates into:
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| * {{FedoraVersion|long|previous}} will be maintained until four weeks after the release of {{FedoraVersion|long|next}}.
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| * {{FedoraVersion|long|current}} will be maintained until four weeks after the release of {{FedoraVersion|long|next2}}.
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| === Maintenance Schedule Rationale ===
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| Fedora is [[Objectives | focused]] on free and open source software [[Red Hat contributions | innovations]] and moves quickly. If you want a distribution that moves slower but has a longer lifecycle, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is derivative of Fedora or free rebuilds of that such as CentOS might be more suitable for you. Refer to the [[RHEL]] page for more details.
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| Historically, the Fedora Project has found that supporting two releases plus Rawhide and the pre-release Branched code to be a manageable work load.
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| == End of Life (EOL) ==
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| When a release reaches the point where it is no longer supported when no updates are created for it, then it is considered ''End of Life'' (EOL). Branches for new packages in the SCM are not allowed for distribution X after the Fedora X+2 release and new builds are no longer allowed.
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| The tasks performed at EOL are documented in the [https://docs.pagure.org/releng/sop_end_of_life.html End of life SOP].
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| = Additional Release Schedule Information =
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| * Overview of [[Releases]], including currently supported releases
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| * [[End of life | Unsupported Releases]]
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| * [[Releases/HistoricalSchedules | Historical Release Information]]
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| [[Category:Distribution]]
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