Release Schedule

Next Release

Note well: Changes must always be committed to trunk and be stable on trunk regression testing before being merged to branches/release.

• August 18, 2008: branches/release opens for all stable changes, including bug fixes, and major upgrades to existing libraries. Breaking changes should be coordinated with libraries affected. New libraries may be added with permission of a release manager.
• September 19, 2008: branches/release branches/release closed for routine code changes and fixes. Still open for serious problem fixes and docs changes.
• October 3, 2008: branches/release closed for routine code changes and fixes. Still open for serious problem fixes and docs changes.
• October 10, 2008: branches/release closed for all library changes except when specific permission given by release manager(s).
• October 17, 2008: Beta release target date. Further betas and/or release candidates as feedback dictates.
• October 31, 2008: Release ship date.

Future Releases

Releases are scheduled for the last day of the first month of each quarter:

• January 31
• April 30
• July 31
• October 31

Release milestones

• One week after prior release ships: branches/release opens for all stable changes, including bug fixes, and major upgrades to existing libraries. Breaking changes should be coordinated with libraries affected. New libraries may be added with permission of a release manager.
• Six weeks before release: branches/release closes for new libraries and major upgrades or breaking changes to existing libraries. Still open for bug fixes and other minor changes to all libraries.
• Four weeks before release: branches/release closed for routine code changes and fixes. Still open for serious problem fixes and docs changes.
• Three weeks before release: branches/release closed for all library changes except when specific permission given by release manager(s).
• Two weeks before release: Beta target date. Further betas and/or release candidates as feedback dictates.

Schedule Rationale

The quarterly schedule is based on mailing list discussions and the results of a straw poll at the BoostCon '08 "Future of Boost" session:

How often do we want to have Boost releases?

4 weeks: 0 votes, 6 weeks: 0 votes, 8 weeks: 10 votes, 12 weeks: 25 votes, 16 weeks or longer: 6 votes

The last day of the month is chosen rather than the first day, because January 1st comes after a holiday period in which it is hard to get anything done.

The schedule for release milestones is based on practical issues like the length of time it takes regression tests to cycle, and is adjusted as experience dictates.