68 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
68 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
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# How to determine if an early patch release is warranted
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In the curl project we do releases every 8 weeks. Unless we break the cycle
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and do an early patch release.
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We do frequent releases partly to always have the next release "not too far
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away".
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## Bugfix
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During the release cycle, and especially in the beginning of a new cycle (the
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so-called "cool down" period), there are times when a bug is reported and
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after it has been subsequently fixed correctly, the question might be asked:
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is this bug and associated fix important enough for an early patch release?
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The question can only be properly asked when a fix has been created and landed
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in the git master branch.
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## Early release
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An early patch release means that we ship a new, complete and full release
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called `major.minor.patch` where the `patch` part is increased by one since
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the previous release. A curl release is a curl release. There is no small or
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big and we never release just a patch. There is only "release".
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## Questions to ask
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- Is there a security advisory rated high or critical?
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- Is there a data corruption bug?
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- Did the bug cause an API/ABI breakage?
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- Does the problem annoy a significant share of the user population?
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If the answer is yes to one or more of the above, an early release might be
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warranted.
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More questions to ask ourselves when doing the assessment if the answers to
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the three ones above are all 'no'.
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- Does the bug cause curl to prematurely terminate?
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- How common is the affected buggy option/feature/protocol/platform to get
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used?
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- How large is the estimated impacted user base?
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- Does the bug block something crucial for applications or other adoption of
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curl "out there" ?
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- Does the bug cause problems for curl developers or others on "the curl
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team" ?
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- Is the bug limited to the curl tool only? That might have a smaller impact
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than a bug also present in libcurl.
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- Is there a (decent) workaround?
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- Is it a regression? Is the bug introduced in this release?
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- Can the bug be fixed "easily" by applying a patch?
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- Does the bug break the build? Most users do not build curl themselves.
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- How long is it until the already scheduled next release?
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- Can affected users safely rather revert to a former release until the next
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scheduled release?
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- Is it a performance regression with no functionality side-effects? If so it
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has to be substantial.
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## If an early release is deemed necessary
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Unless done for security or similarly important reasons, an early release
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should not be done within a week of the previous release.
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This, to enable us to collect and bundle more fixes into the same release to
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make the release more worthwhile for everyone and to allow more time for fixes
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to settle and things to get tested. Getting a release in shape and done in
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style is work that should not be rushed.
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