From patchwork Mon Jan 5 16:00:59 2026 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Patchwork-Submitter: Antonin Godard X-Patchwork-Id: 78023 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.0 (2014-02-07) on aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org Received: from aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E889C79FA1 for ; Mon, 5 Jan 2026 16:02:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtpout-02.galae.net (smtpout-02.galae.net [185.246.84.56]) by mx.groups.io with SMTP id smtpd.msgproc01-g2.67347.1767628928335330722 for ; Mon, 05 Jan 2026 08:02:09 -0800 Authentication-Results: mx.groups.io; dkim=pass header.i=@bootlin.com header.s=dkim header.b=YuMLAXIh; spf=pass (domain: bootlin.com, ip: 185.246.84.56, mailfrom: antonin.godard@bootlin.com) Received: from smtpout-01.galae.net (smtpout-01.galae.net [212.83.139.233]) by smtpout-02.galae.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3A1FA1A2667 for ; Mon, 5 Jan 2026 16:02:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail.galae.net (mail.galae.net [212.83.136.155]) by smtpout-01.galae.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0A2CE60726; Mon, 5 Jan 2026 16:02:06 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (Mailerdaemon) with ESMTPSA id 18A48103C858A; Mon, 5 Jan 2026 17:02:03 +0100 (CET) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=bootlin.com; s=dkim; t=1767628925; h=from:subject:date:message-id:to:cc:mime-version:content-type: content-transfer-encoding; bh=dt3Rx66WyyYRCj56EYGV37LB6fX1W6GW/HeonGfNts4=; b=YuMLAXIho5AS19LFF0hsN8VWfIuLXYBNxUom5tlRb2t48tK68RWrAO7A52VXNulqPA2Hu7 7iQA+3IA+9RFeAWX6c6IJgzEpwEZfgoMQlEZfFpBJltYvmPWZU9/kX3e88tbmcdznMlsTX FxTxeqW8IL6Kupx6X+RGTQEAqqNHjqXkFnRQPnozi8qCJTxeOmEoxj3p3oX9rP7JsDm+0b 6XSMoC9fUFEDX7YHuu4N/IVPu7gLJ7m9YcPDfpYTsECsHxaw8hWLZP26yRVba02rwJf+8G pKGKToJtwMl6FwKHoYTW7QkTuw8KJhLNNRfSBLXcZip/c7KfWYOqIvciqfWCPQ== From: Antonin Godard Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2026 17:00:59 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] ref-manual/release-process.rst: add a "Development Cycle" section MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <20260105-release-process-v1-1-6b84d409718c@bootlin.com> X-B4-Tracking: v=1; b=H4sIADrgW2kC/yXMQQqDQAxG4atI1h0Ygwr2KqWLcfzViKgkbRHEu zvW5bd4byeDCoye2U6Kn5gsc0L+yCgOYe7hpE0m9lzmzOwUE4LBrbpEmLkiIHpfV23HBaVqVXS y/Y+v9237NiPi59rQcZxQk1qgcwAAAA== X-Change-ID: 20251222-release-process-4aec0096df24 To: docs@lists.yoctoproject.org Cc: Yoann Congal , Thomas Petazzoni , Antonin Godard X-Mailer: b4 0.15-dev X-Developer-Signature: v=1; a=openpgp-sha256; l=2856; i=antonin.godard@bootlin.com; h=from:subject:message-id; bh=q7+GaNiovWAT4drMGZDdZ8udLzTlYkNzMG6Ja7QC3tE=; b=owEBbQKS/ZANAwAKAdGAQUApo6g2AcsmYgBpW+B7vkAw2jt6Q1iI2ln6bhBA2VDlYHp89MyVy 3FBHle1XFSJAjMEAAEKAB0WIQSGSHJRiN1AG7mg0//RgEFAKaOoNgUCaVvgewAKCRDRgEFAKaOo NtXoD/9ZkEahOqFaA0yGFM/vqJRovNlgbeLQEDaqtEWrD/IlZu2AXSNlU6TzJxs10v9pWHsdmzU PM6XqodzlbMQQn4DSZshLPwZefCGHL4KioV/UFblagOp6M/+N8IFeVs+Pd9hwC3/R9bReW40bzJ t1pWaX+rgoNcbPy2Nf+mjvaXytG7sGvSAnNnztYuJUmJydA8AKfOC6LeUbkrmbbMMmDUdXbFssl GFR1MQA2P4GQ2Pw4TqkPh8E70RzPhvN8KjTMJBFYrYqEETH8N1A96ziYzfWyM0Cogu13SmP9Gk1 E+o561mwXj45xvPEnnIgKk/4LOviHyzxoyZXDXhkQoZKSpVNOXI+34DNdxAL2LTY1SS5O52wjvd CtbFYcP8/CZnS3G49dGR5qSy2hMZVRsZB3TgkfhqsdFRptgg3eO6kNoY74F0PqSg0M+3+9aK03D 781CZYzHrpngQRvHH0nl/uwIi7QOhIDVRDQkvsl/Nvq3D6rRLBLhcCoKMALVTpT/cQziAkolJQv DPfQPQGbYx2MAU/eO9HAlMlBIEAAlZ/nsmWeU1bd/EQCtrB9WJPAocqTywSeggB7AMulc7Oyq2G YuTm4/tC4Nza/sObcp8W+tsiCuoD6RL2LyTIPawq2GnpYinc9Me7FAEivVlq7vnnjh/m5ySNK8D EreLPFTGNgx6uQQ== X-Developer-Key: i=antonin.godard@bootlin.com; a=openpgp; fpr=8648725188DD401BB9A0D3FFD180414029A3A836 X-Last-TLS-Session-Version: TLSv1.3 List-Id: X-Webhook-Received: from 45-33-107-173.ip.linodeusercontent.com [45.33.107.173] by aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org with HTTPS for ; Mon, 05 Jan 2026 16:02:12 -0000 X-Groupsio-URL: https://lists.yoctoproject.org/g/docs/message/8389 Add a new section to release-process.rst to document the development cycle of each release and namely the milestones and feature freeze occuring after M3. Fixes [YOCTO #15979] Signed-off-by: Antonin Godard --- documentation/ref-manual/release-process.rst | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 39 insertions(+) --- base-commit: f9042e1da554017fe46460c1fd2bdf8c74b3fa18 change-id: 20251222-release-process-4aec0096df24 diff --git a/documentation/ref-manual/release-process.rst b/documentation/ref-manual/release-process.rst index 826354844..165dfb86d 100644 --- a/documentation/ref-manual/release-process.rst +++ b/documentation/ref-manual/release-process.rst @@ -45,6 +45,45 @@ release process validates the content of the new branch. Realize that there can be patches merged onto the stable release branches as and when they become available. +.. _ref-yp-development-cycle: + +Development Cycle +================= + +As explained in the previous :ref:`ref-manual/release-process:Major and Minor +Release Cadence` section, a new release comes out every six months. + +During this six-months period of time, the Yocto Project releases four +"Milestone" releases which represent distinct points of time. The milestone +releases are tested through the :ref:`ref-manual/release-process:Testing and +Quality Assurance` process and helps spotting issues before the actual release +is out. + +The time span between milestone releases can vary, but they are in general +evenly spaced out during this six-months period of time. + +These milestone releases are tagged with a capital "M" after the future release +tag name. For example, the milestone tags "&DISTRO_RELEASE_SERIES;M1", +"&DISTRO_RELEASE_SERIES;M2", and "&DISTRO_RELEASE_SERIES;M3" are released before +the actual "&DISTRO_RELEASE_SERIES;" release. + +.. note:: + + The fourth milestone (M4) is not actually released and announced, but + represents a point of time for the Quality Assurance team to start the + :ref:`ref-manual/release-process:Testing and Quality Assurance` process + before tagging and delivering the final release. + +After the third milestone release (M3), the Yocto Project enters **Feature +Freeze**. This means that the maintainers of :term:`OpenEmbedded-Core +(OE-Core)`, :term:`BitBake` and other core repositories stop accepting +significant changes on the "master" branch. Changes that may be accepted are +minor upgrades to core components and security/bug fixes. + +During feature freeze, a new branch is created and maintained separately to +test new features and enhancements received from contributors, but these changes +will only make it to the master branch after the release is out. + Major Release Codenames =======================