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 and there is a commitment from major 30contributors to validate it before releases. If a release is to be designated 31as a Stable Release, it should be done by 1 month after the master release. 32 33A Stable Release is used to backport fixes from an ``N`` release back to an 34``N-1`` release, for example, from 16.11 to 16.07. 35 36The duration of a stable is one complete release cycle (3 months). It can be 37longer, up to 1 year, if a maintainer continues to support the stable branch, 38or if users supply backported fixes, however the explicit commitment should be 39for one release cycle. 40 41The release cadence is determined by the maintainer based on the number of 42bugfixes and the criticality of the bugs. Releases should be coordinated with 43the validation engineers to ensure that a tagged release has been tested. 44 45 46LTS Release 47----------- 48 49A stable release can be designated as an LTS release based on community 50agreement and a commitment from a maintainer. The current policy is that each 51year's November (X.11) release will be maintained as an LTS for 2 years. 52 53After the X.11 release, an LTS branch will be created for it at 54http://git.dpdk.org/dpdk-stable where bugfixes will be backported to. 55 56A LTS release may align with the declaration of a new major ABI version, 57please read the :doc:`abi_policy` for more information. 58 59It is anticipated that there will be at least 4 releases per year of the LTS 60or approximately 1 every 3 months. However, the cadence can be shorter or 61longer depending on the number and criticality of the backported 62fixes. Releases should be coordinated with the validation engineers to ensure 63that a tagged release has been tested. 64 65The current maintained LTS branches are 17.11 and 18.11. 66 67At the end of the 2 years, a final X.11.N release will be made and at that 68point the LTS branch will no longer be maintained with no further releases. 69 70 71What changes should be backported 72--------------------------------- 73 74Backporting should be limited to bug fixes. All patches accepted on the master 75branch with a Fixes: tag should be backported to the relevant stable/LTS 76branches, unless the submitter indicates otherwise. If there are exceptions, 77they will be discussed on the mailing lists. 78 79Fixes suitable for backport should have a ``Cc: stable@dpdk.org`` tag in the 80commit message body as follows:: 81 82 doc: fix some parameter description 83 84 Update the docs, fixing description of some parameter. 85 86 Fixes: abcdefgh1234 ("doc: add some parameter") 87 Cc: stable@dpdk.org 88 89 Signed-off-by: Alex Smith <alex.smith@example.com> 90 91 92Fixes not suitable for backport should not include the ``Cc: stable@dpdk.org`` tag. 93 94Features should not be backported to stable releases. It may be acceptable, in 95limited cases, to back port features for the LTS release where: 96 97* There is a justifiable use case (for example a new PMD). 98* The change is non-invasive. 99* The work of preparing the backport is done by the proposer. 100* There is support within the community. 101 102 103The Stable Mailing List 104----------------------- 105 106The Stable and LTS release are coordinated on the stable@dpdk.org mailing 107list. 108 109All fix patches to the master branch that are candidates for backporting 110should also be CCed to the `stable@dpdk.org <http://mails.dpdk.org/listinfo/stable>`_ 111mailing list. 112 113 114Releasing 115--------- 116 117A Stable Release will be released by: 118 119* Tagging the release with YY.MM.n (year, month, number). 120* Uploading a tarball of the release to dpdk.org. 121* Sending an announcement to the `announce@dpdk.org <http://mails.dpdk.org/listinfo/announce>`_ 122 list. 123 124Stable releases are available on the `dpdk.org download page <http://core.dpdk.org/download/>`_. 125