Schedule Rationale

The Open-Sharedroot Project is tightly integrated with major Enterprise Linux distributions like Red Hat Enterprise Linux or Novell/Suse Linux Enterprise Server. Therefor the Open-Sharedroot release schedule matches the pace of the upstream vendors (new update releases, revisions and erratas). The quality assurance is completed for all currently supported Enterprise Linux distributions before any packages are marked for productive use. Since we have access to preview versions of the upcoming releases, our Open-Sharedroot release cycle closely matches those of the upstream vendors as quality assurance is done at the same time.

Development Information

You can find detailed information about release plans, process and other information in the official roadmap:

http://www.open-sharedroot.org/development/osr-development-roadmap/major-os-platforms/

New releases are also announced via the news and through the mailing lists.

Inofficial information may be obtained from developer's blogs. (e.g.: Marc's blog http://www.open-sharedroot.org/Members/marc/blog)

Software packages in development are packaged and uploaded to the preview channel. Software packages uploaded to rc1 are normally versions stable enough to be released very soon but still need to pass the quality assurance tests. After passing quality assurance tests, the packages are transfered to the productive channel. The functionality and the update path are tested with all current supported Enterprise Linux releases.

After a version of a software package has been proven stable for a certain length of time, that package gets promoted to be included in a separate channel called "matured". Those packages really have matured and are usually used by cautious enterprise users in critical productive environments. The functionality and the update path are even more tested with all current supported Enterprise Linux releases.

Special Terms

• Development freeze : The package set is frozen. Product managers decide which features are included in the upcoming releases.
• Feature freeze : All features must be complete.
• RC1 freeze : The release candidate 1 channel (rc1) is frozen until the quality assurance tests are done.
• Release: Availability for download. With a productive release a rc1 freeze ends and new developments advance to the rc1 channel.
• Maintenance Release: A new update/errata for the upstream Enterprise Linux is available and the Open-Sharedroot Project is updated.
• Major Release: New Features are included with the Open-Sharedroot Project.
• Beta Release: New technology previews are included in the Open-Sharedroot Project that need public testing.

Feature Freeze Policy

The feature freeze marks a milestone for the project where no new features and no new modules are added. The feature freeze gives the project members to concentrate on quality assurance, code maintenance, debugging and bug-fixing for the release. A Feature freeze may be only aborted by product management.

Request For Enhancements Policy

The release team will evaluate Requests for Enhancements and provide feedback as soon as possible. If a feature is rejected for the current release, it gets prioritized so that the most important features are added to the next development release.