From c0af3c7b2c7bf1c601b4130533a9efebe42c581c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Brian Behlendorf Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2021 16:33:40 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Add RELEASES.md file Document the project's policy regarding publishing and maintaining official OpenZFS releases. Reviewed-by: Tony Hutter Reviewed-by: Matthew Ahrens Signed-off-by: Brian Behlendorf Closes #11821 --- Makefile.am | 4 ++-- RELEASES.md | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 39 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) create mode 100644 RELEASES.md diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am index b7cc4ce856..dd48b4a2c9 100644 --- a/Makefile.am +++ b/Makefile.am @@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ endif AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign EXTRA_DIST = autogen.sh copy-builtin EXTRA_DIST += config/config.awk config/rpm.am config/deb.am config/tgz.am -EXTRA_DIST += META AUTHORS COPYRIGHT LICENSE NEWS NOTICE README.md -EXTRA_DIST += CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md +EXTRA_DIST += AUTHORS CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md COPYRIGHT LICENSE META NEWS NOTICE +EXTRA_DIST += README.md RELEASES.md EXTRA_DIST += module/lua/README.zfs module/os/linux/spl/README.md # Include all the extra licensing information for modules diff --git a/RELEASES.md b/RELEASES.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..55bfdb80ef --- /dev/null +++ b/RELEASES.md @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +OpenZFS uses the MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH versioning scheme described here: + + * MAJOR - Incremented at the discretion of the OpenZFS developers to indicate + a particularly noteworthy feature or change. An increase in MAJOR number + does not indicate any incompatible on-disk format change. The ability + to import a ZFS pool is controlled by the feature flags enabled on the + pool and the feature flags supported by the installed OpenZFS version. + Increasing the MAJOR version is expected to be an infrequent occurrence. + + * MINOR - Incremented to indicate new functionality such as a new feature + flag, pool/dataset property, zfs/zpool sub-command, new user/kernel + interface, etc. MINOR releases may introduce incompatible changes to the + user space library APIs (libzfs.so). Existing user/kernel interfaces are + considered to be stable to maximize compatibility between OpenZFS releases. + Additions to the user/kernel interface are backwards compatible. + + * PATCH - Incremented when applying documentation updates, important bug + fixes, minor performance improvements, and kernel compatibility patches. + The user space library APIs and user/kernel interface are considered to + be stable. PATCH releases for a MAJOR.MINOR are published as needed. + +Two release branches are maintained for OpenZFS, they are: + + * OpenZFS LTS - A designated MAJOR.MINOR release with periodic PATCH + releases that incorporate important changes backported from newer OpenZFS + releases. This branch is intended for use in environments using an + LTS, enterprise, or similarly managed kernel (RHEL, Ubuntu LTS, Debian). + Minor changes to support these distribution kernels will be applied as + needed. New kernel versions released after the OpenZFS LTS release are + not supported. LTS releases will receive patches for at least 2 years. + The current LTS release is OpenZFS 2.1. + + * OpenZFS current - Tracks the newest MAJOR.MINOR release. This branch + includes support for the latest OpenZFS features and recently releases + kernels. When a new MINOR release is tagged the previous MINOR release + will no longer be maintained (unless it is an LTS release). New MINOR + releases are planned to occur roughly annually.