1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause 2 Copyright 2018 The DPDK contributors 3 4.. stable_lts_releases: 5 6DPDK Stable Releases and Long Term Support 7========================================== 8 9This section sets out the guidelines for the DPDK Stable Releases and the DPDK 10Long Term Support releases (LTS). 11 12 13Introduction 14------------ 15 16The purpose of the DPDK Stable Releases is to maintain releases of DPDK with 17backported fixes over an extended period of time. This provides downstream 18consumers of DPDK with a stable target on which to base applications or 19packages. 20 21The Long Term Support release (LTS) is a designation applied to a Stable 22Release to indicate longer term support. 23 24 25Stable Releases 26--------------- 27 28Any major release of DPDK can be designated as a Stable Release if a 29maintainer volunteers to maintain it. 30 31A Stable Release is used to backport fixes from an ``N`` release back to an 32``N-1`` release, for example, from 16.11 to 16.07. 33 34The duration of a stable is one complete release cycle (3 months). It can be 35longer, up to 1 year, if a maintainer continues to support the stable branch, 36or if users supply backported fixes, however the explicit commitment should be 37for one release cycle. 38 39The release cadence is determined by the maintainer based on the number of 40bugfixes and the criticality of the bugs. Releases should be coordinated with 41the validation engineers to ensure that a tagged release has been tested. 42 43 44LTS Release 45----------- 46 47A stable release can be designated as an LTS release based on community 48agreement and a commitment from a maintainer. The current policy is that each 49year's November release will be maintained as an LTS for 2 years. 50 51The current DPDK LTS releases are 17.11 and 18.11. 52 53It is anticipated that there will be at least 4 releases per year of the LTS 54or approximately 1 every 3 months. However, the cadence can be shorter or 55longer depending on the number and criticality of the backported 56fixes. Releases should be coordinated with the validation engineers to ensure 57that a tagged release has been tested. 58 59 60What changes should be backported 61--------------------------------- 62 63Backporting should be limited to bug fixes. All patches accepted on the master 64branch with a Fixes: tag should be backported to the relevant stable/LTS 65branches, unless the submitter indicates otherwise. If there are exceptions, 66they will be discussed on the mailing lists. 67 68Fixes suitable for backport should have a ``Cc: stable@dpdk.org`` tag in the 69commit message body as follows:: 70 71 doc: fix some parameter description 72 73 Update the docs, fixing description of some parameter. 74 75 Fixes: abcdefgh1234 ("doc: add some parameter") 76 Cc: stable@dpdk.org 77 78 Signed-off-by: Alex Smith <alex.smith@example.com> 79 80 81Fixes not suitable for backport should not include the ``Cc: stable@dpdk.org`` tag. 82 83Features should not be backported to stable releases. It may be acceptable, in 84limited cases, to back port features for the LTS release where: 85 86* There is a justifiable use case (for example a new PMD). 87* The change is non-invasive. 88* The work of preparing the backport is done by the proposer. 89* There is support within the community. 90 91 92The Stable Mailing List 93----------------------- 94 95The Stable and LTS release are coordinated on the stable@dpdk.org mailing 96list. 97 98All fix patches to the master branch that are candidates for backporting 99should also be CCed to the `stable@dpdk.org <http://mails.dpdk.org/listinfo/stable>`_ 100mailing list. 101 102 103Releasing 104--------- 105 106A Stable Release will be released by: 107 108* Tagging the release with YY.MM.n (year, month, number). 109* Uploading a tarball of the release to dpdk.org. 110* Sending an announcement to the `announce@dpdk.org <http://mails.dpdk.org/listinfo/announce>`_ 111 list. 112 113Stable releases are available on the `dpdk.org download page <http://core.dpdk.org/download/>`_. 114 115 116ABI 117--- 118 119The Stable Release should not be seen as a way of breaking or circumventing 120the DPDK ABI policy. 121