Skip to content

Updated the release process for Symfony 3.x and future releases #5994

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Merged
merged 6 commits into from
Dec 13, 2015
Merged

Updated the release process for Symfony 3.x and future releases #5994

Show file tree
Hide file tree
Changes from 2 commits
Commits
Show all changes
6 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
636d348
Updated the release process for Symfony 3.x and future releases
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
427daab
Minor changes
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
442e56a
Rewords
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
6881e07
Minor typo
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
99070c9
Fixed the image
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
23cc779
Updated the other image too
javiereguiluz Dec 10, 2015
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
74 changes: 43 additions & 31 deletions contributing/community/releases.rst
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,36 +1,34 @@
The Release Process
===================

This document explains the Symfony release process (Symfony being the code
hosted on the main ``symfony/symfony`` `Git repository`_).
This document explains the **release process** of the Symfony project (i.e. the
code hosted on the main ``symfony/symfony`` `Git repository`_).

Symfony manages its releases through a *time-based model*; a new Symfony minor
version comes out every *six months*: one in *May* and one in *November*.
Symfony manages its releases through a *time-based model* and follows the
`Semantic Versioning`_ strategy:

.. tip::

The meaning of "minor" comes from the `Semantic Versioning`_ strategy.

Each minor version sticks to the same very well-defined process where we start
with a development period, followed by a maintenance period.
* A new Symfony minor version (e.g. 2.8, 3.2, 4.1) comes out every *six months*:
one in *May* and one in *November*;
* A new Symfony major version (e.g., 3.0, 4.0) comes out every *two years* and
it's released at the same time of the last minor version of the previous branch.
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

[...] the previous major version.


.. note::

This release process has been adopted as of Symfony 2.2, and all the
"rules" explained in this document must be strictly followed as of Symfony
2.4.
This release process has been adopted as of Symfony 2.2, and all the "rules"
explained in this document must be strictly followed as of Symfony 2.4.
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

Well, the two year release cycle for major versions was not adopted in Symfony 2.2, but started with Symfony 3.0.

Copy link
Member Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

I propose to remove this note entirely. It made sense when we did the transition to the new formal process. But that was years ago!

Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

makes sense too (people are probably not so interested in how the process was in the past but how/when releases will be done in the future)


.. _contributing-release-development:

Development
-----------

The full development period lasts six months and is divided into two phases:
The full development period for any major or minor version lasts six months and
is divided into two phases:

* *Development*: *Four months* to add new features and to enhance existing
* **Development**: *Four months* to add new features and to enhance existing
ones;

* *Stabilisation*: *Two months* to fix bugs, prepare the release, and wait
* **Stabilisation**: *Two months* to fix bugs, prepare the release, and wait
for the whole Symfony ecosystem (third-party libraries, bundles, and
projects using Symfony) to catch up.

Expand All @@ -43,37 +41,48 @@ final release.
Maintenance
-----------

Each Symfony minor version is maintained for a fixed period of time, depending
on the type of the release. We have two maintenance periods:
Each Symfony version is maintained for a fixed period of time, depending on the
type of the release. This maintenance is divided into:

* *Bug fixes and security fixes*: During this period, all issues can be fixed.
The end of this period is referenced as being the *end of maintenance* of a
release.

* *Security fixes only*: During this period, only security related issues can
be fixed. The end of this period is referenced as being the *end of
life* of a release.
be fixed. The end of this period is referenced as being the *end of life* of
a release.

Symfony Versions
----------------

Standard Versions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A standard minor version is maintained for an *eight month* period for bug
A **Standard Minor Version** is maintained for an *eight month* period for bug
fixes, and for a *fourteen month* period for security issue fixes.

In Symfony 2.x branch, the number of minor versions wasn't constrained, so that
branch ended up with nine minor versions (from 2.0 to 2.8). Starting from
3.x branch, the number of minor versions is limited to five (from X.0 to X.4).

.. _releases-lts:

Long Term Support Versions
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every two years, a new Long Term Support Version (aka LTS version) is
published. Each LTS version is supported for a *three year* period for bug
Every two years, a new **Long Term Support Version** (usually abbreviated as "LTS")
is published. Each LTS version is supported for a *three year* period for bug
fixes, and for a *four year* period for security issue fixes.

.. note::

Paid support after the three year support provided by the community can
also be bought from `SensioLabs`_.

In Symfony 2.x branch, the LTS versions are 2.3, 2.7 and 2.8. Starting from 3.x
branch, only the last minor version of each branch is considered LTS (e.g 3.4,
Copy link
Member

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

missing dot after "e.g"

4.4, 5.4, etc.)

Schedule
--------

Expand All @@ -83,7 +92,7 @@ Below is the schedule for the first few versions that use this release model:
:align: center

* **Yellow** represents the Development phase
* **Blue** represents the Stabilisation phase
* **Blue** represents the Stabilization phase
* **Green** represents the Maintenance period

This results in very predictable dates and maintenance periods:
Expand All @@ -100,15 +109,23 @@ Version Feature Freeze Release End of Maintenance End of Life
2.6 09/2014 11/2014 07/2015 (8 months) 01/2016
**2.7** 03/2015 05/2015 05/2018 (36 months) 05/2019
**2.8** 09/2015 11/2015 11/2018 (36 months [2]_) 11/2019
3.0 09/2015 11/2015 07/2016 (8 months) 01/2017
3.0 09/2015 11/2015 07/2016 (8 months) [3]_) 01/2017
3.1 03/2016 05/2016 01/2017 (8 months) 07/2017
3.2 09/2016 11/2016 07/2017 (8 months) 01/2018
**3.3** 03/2017 05/2017 05/2020 (36 months) 05/2021
3.3 03/2017 05/2017 01/2018 (8 months) 07/2018
**3.4** 09/2017 11/2017 11/2020 (36 months) 11/2021
4.0 09/2017 11/2017 07/2018 (8 months) 01/2019
4.1 03/2018 05/2018 01/2019 (8 months) 07/2019
4.2 09/2018 11/2018 07/2019 (8 months) 01/2020
4.3 03/2019 05/2019 01/2020 (8 months) 07/2020
**4.4** 09/2019 11/2019 11/2022 (36 months) 11/2023
5.0 09/2019 11/2019 07/2020 (8 months) 01/2021
... ... ... ... ...
======= ============== ======= ======================== ===========

.. [1] Symfony 2.4 maintenance has been `extended to September 2014`_.
.. [2] Symfony 2.8 is the last version of the Symfony 2.x branch.
.. [3] Symfony 3.0 is the first version to use the new release process based on five minor releases.

.. tip::

Expand All @@ -133,11 +150,6 @@ of Symfony to the next one.
Whenever keeping backward compatibility is not possible, the feature, the
enhancement or the bug fix will be scheduled for the next major version.

.. note::

The work on a new major version of Symfony starts whenever enough major
features breaking backward compatibility are waiting on the todo-list.

Deprecations
------------

Expand Down
Binary file modified images/contributing/release-process.jpg
View file
Open in desktop
Loading
Sorry, something went wrong. Reload?
Sorry, we cannot display this file.
Sorry, this file is invalid so it cannot be displayed.