We say approximately every 6 months because like many things, they don’t always go exactly as planned. The schedule is not strictly time-based, but a hybrid of time and quality. The milestone releases are QA:Release_validation_test_plan[tested] for compliance with the Fedora Release Criteria, and releases will be delayed if this is not the case.
The schedule for the release currently under development, , is on its |next}}/Schedule| release schedule page. Beta, and General Availability (final) releases happen at 14:00 UTC.
Development Planning
Fedora development planning is handled by the Release Planning Process. So-called Changes are proposed, initially reviewed, and monitored through the development process by the engineering steering committee.
Development Process
Fedora uses a system involving two 'development' trees. Rawhide is a constantly rolling development tree. No releases are built directly from Rawhide. Approximately 10 weeks before the planned date of a Fedora release, a tree for that release is "https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/Branched[Branched]" from the Rawhide tree. At that point the Rawhide tree is moving towards the release after the new Branched release, and the pending release is stabilized in the Branched tree.
After the Bodhi activation point, the Bodhi system is permanently active on the Branched release (all the way until it goes EOL), and requirements for updates to be marked as stable are set out in the Updates Policy. Packages must go through the updates-testing repository for the release before entering its stable repository, according to rules defined in the updates policy: these rules tighten gradually from Beta through to post-GA (Final), but the basic process does not change.
For some time prior to a milestone (Beta, Final) release a freeze is in effect which prevents packages moving from updates-testing to stable except in accordance with the QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process[blocker] and QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process[freeze exception] bug policies. This freeze is lifted once the milestone is finished, and so packages begin to move from updates-testing to stable as normal again, until the next milestone’s freeze date.
Schedule Methodology
Fedora release schedules are proposed by the Fedora Program Manager and ratified by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo), with input from other groups. FESCo is responsible for overseeing the technical direction of the Fedora distribution. A core schedule is created using the key tasks listed below. Detailed team schedules are built around these dates.
Note: When referring to Beta/Final Target, we refer to an planned date. When referring to Beta/Final release only, we refer to a date the release has actually happened.
| Task/Milestone | Start Day (Tuesdays or Thursdays) | Length |
|---|---|---|
Planning and Development | Branch point of previous release plus one day | Variable |
Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for Changes requiring Mass rebuild | Tue: Mass rebuild minus 3 weeks | n/a |
Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for System Wide Changes | Tue: Mass rebuild minus 1 week | n/a |
Mass rebuild | Branch point minus 5 weeks | Until Branch point |
Changes Checkpoint: Proposal deadline for Self Contained Changes | Tue: Branch point minus 3 weeks | n/a |
Tue: Preferred Beta Release Target minus 5 weeks | n/a | |
Tue: Same day as Branch point | N/A | |
String Freeze | Tue: Branch point plus 1 week | Software String Freeze Policy in effect until Final Release (GA) |
Tue: Preferred Beta Target minus 3 weeks, Same day as Beta Freeze | Bodhi enabled and Updates_Policy requirements in effect until EOL | |
Tue: Preferred Beta Target minus 3 weeks | QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process and QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process in effect until Beta Release | |
Tue: Same day as Beta Freeze | N/A | |
QA:SOP_compose_request[Beta release candidates] | Any time after Beta Freeze | Until Beta Release |
Beta Go_No_Go_Meeting | Thu @ 13:00 E\{D,S}T: planned Preferred Beta Target minus five days (repeats if No-Go) | n/a |
Preferred Beta Target | Tue: Preferred Final Target minus 5 weeks | Live until GA release |
Beta Target #1 | Tue: Preferred Beta Target plus 1 week, Preferred Final Target minus 4 weeks | n/a |
Tue: Preferred Final Target minus 2 weeks | QA:SOP_freeze_exception_bug_process and QA:SOP_blocker_bug_process in effect until Final Release (GA) | |
QA:SOP_compose_request[Final release candidates] | Any time after Final Freeze | Until Final Release (GA) |
Final Go_No_Go_Meeting | Thu @ 13:00 E\{D,S}T: planned Final Release (GA) minus five days (repeats if No-Go) | n/a |
Preferred Final Target | Tue: Primary date from which rest of schedule derives + This date is either the Tuesday before May 1st or October 31st. | n/a |
Final Target #1 | Tue: Preferred Final Target plus 1 week | n/a |
Maintenance | Tue: Same day as Final Release (GA) | ~13 Months |
End of Life | Final Release (GA) of next-but-one release plus one month | n/a |
Development Schedule Rationale
Fedora generally develops new releases over a six month period to provide a regular and predictable release schedule. The bi-annual targeted release dates are May Day (May 1st) and Halloween (October 31) making them easy to remember and for avoiding significant holiday breaks. Changes to this standard must be approved by the community-elected Fedora Engineering Steering Committee (FESCo).
A six month release schedule also follows the precedence of Red Hat Linux (precursor to Fedora). Former Red Hat software engineer Havoc Pennington offers a historical perspective here. GNOME started following a time based release based on the ideas and success of Red Hat Linux and other distributions following Fedora having adopted a similar release cycle. Several other major components, including the Linux kernel, Openoffice.org, Xorg, have started following a time based release schedule. While the exact release schedules vary between these components and other upstream projects, the interactions between these components and Fedora makes a six month time based release schedule a good balance.
Although due to how planning process and release validation works, Fedora is not a strictly time based distribution, but uses combination of both time and feature based release paradigms. This way we can react to bigger changes aka new installed, way how we release bits (Fedora.Next) etc.
Schedule Contingency Planning
If Mass rebuild is not completed on time, all the subsequent milestones starting with Branch point are pushed back for one week until the Mass rebuild is completed.
If the Beta Go/No-Go Meeting results in a "No Go" determination, rescheduling of the milestone and subsequent milestones follows these rules:
Slip of the Beta from the Preferred Target to Target #1 does not affect Final Release (GA) date. The Final Release (GA) date remains on Preferred Final Target.
Slip of the Beta to Target #1 adds a new Beta Target #2 and Final Release (GA) slips to Final Target #1 (and we don’t yet add a Final Target #2).
Slip of the Beta past Target #N (where N >= 2) adds a new Beta Target #(N+1) and also adds a new Final Target #N
If the Final Go_No_Go_Meeting results in a "No Go" determination, that milestone and subsequent milestones will be pushed back by one week.
One week is added to the schedule to maintain the practice of releasing on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are the designated release day because they are good days for news coverage and correspond to the established day we synchronize our content with the mirrors that carry our releases. Be aware of holidays and of possible PR conflicts (contact Fedora PR) with the new proposed final date.
Go/No Go meetings receive input from representatives of FESCo,Release Engineering, and Quality Assurance.
