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9.9 KiB
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========================
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Django's release process
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========================
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.. _official-releases:
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Official releases
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=================
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Since version 1.0, Django's release numbering works as follows:
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* Versions are numbered in the form ``A.B`` or ``A.B.C``.
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* ``A.B`` is the *feature release* version number. Each version will be mostly
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backwards compatible with the previous release. Exceptions to this rule will
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be listed in the release notes.
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* ``C`` is the *patch release* version number, which is incremented for bugfix
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and security releases. These releases will be 100% backwards-compatible with
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the previous patch release. The only exception is when a security or data
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loss issue can't be fixed without breaking backwards-compatibility. If this
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happens, the release notes will provide detailed upgrade instructions.
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* Before a new feature release, we'll make alpha, beta, and release candidate
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releases. These are of the form ``A.B alpha/beta/rc N``, which means the
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``Nth`` alpha/beta/release candidate of version ``A.B``.
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In git, each Django release will have a tag indicating its version number,
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signed with the Django release key. Additionally, each release series has its
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own branch, called ``stable/A.B.x``, and bugfix/security releases will be
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issued from those branches.
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For more information about how the Django project issues new releases for
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security purposes, please see :doc:`our security policies <security>`.
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.. glossary::
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Feature release
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Feature releases (A.B, A.B+1, etc.) will happen roughly every eight months
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-- see `release process`_ for details. These releases will contain new
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features, improvements to existing features, and such.
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Patch release
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Patch releases (A.B.C, A.B.C+1, etc.) will be issued as needed, to fix
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bugs and/or security issues.
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These releases will be 100% compatible with the associated feature release,
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unless this is impossible for security reasons or to prevent data loss. So
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the answer to "should I upgrade to the latest patch release?" will always
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be "yes."
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Long-term support release
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Certain feature releases will be designated as long-term support (LTS)
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releases. These releases will get security and data loss fixes applied for
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a guaranteed period of time, typically three years.
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See `the download page`_ for the releases that have been designated for
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long-term support.
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.. _the download page: https://www.djangoproject.com/download/
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.. _internal-release-cadence:
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Release cadence
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===============
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Starting with Django 2.0, version numbers will use a loose form of `semantic
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versioning <https://semver.org/>`_ such that each version following an LTS will
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bump to the next "dot zero" version. For example: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 (LTS), 3.0,
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3.1, 3.2 (LTS), etc.
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SemVer makes it easier to see at a glance how compatible releases are with each
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other. It also helps to anticipate when compatibility shims will be removed.
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It's not a pure form of SemVer as each feature release will continue to have a
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few documented backwards incompatibilities where a deprecation path isn't
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possible or not worth the cost. Also, deprecations started in an LTS release
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(X.2) will be dropped in a non-dot-zero release (Y.1) to accommodate our policy
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of keeping deprecation shims for at least two feature releases. Read on to the
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next section for an example.
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.. _internal-release-deprecation-policy:
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Deprecation policy
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==================
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A feature release may deprecate certain features from previous releases. If a
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feature is deprecated in feature release A.x, it will continue to work in all
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A.x versions (for all versions of x) but raise warnings. Deprecated features
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will be removed in the B.0 release, or B.1 for features deprecated in the last
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A.x feature release to ensure deprecations are done over at least 2 feature
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releases.
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So, for example, if we decided to start the deprecation of a function in
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Django 4.2:
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* Django 4.2 will contain a backwards-compatible replica of the function which
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will raise a ``RemovedInDjango51Warning``.
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* Django 5.0 (the version that follows 4.2) will still contain the
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backwards-compatible replica.
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* Django 5.1 will remove the feature outright.
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The warnings are silent by default. You can turn on display of these warnings
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with the ``python -Wd`` option.
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A more generic example:
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* X.0
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* X.1
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* X.2 LTS
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* Y.0: Drop deprecation shims added in X.0 and X.1.
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* Y.1: Drop deprecation shims added in X.2.
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* Y.2 LTS: No deprecation shims dropped (while Y.0 is no longer supported,
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third-party apps need to maintain compatibility back to X.2 LTS to ease
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LTS to LTS upgrades).
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* Z.0: Drop deprecation shims added in Y.0 and Y.1.
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See also the :ref:`deprecating-a-feature` guide.
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.. _supported-versions-policy:
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Supported versions
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==================
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At any moment in time, Django's developer team will support a set of releases
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to varying levels. See `the supported versions section
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<https://www.djangoproject.com/download/#supported-versions>`_ of the download
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page for the current state of support for each version.
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* The current development branch ``main`` will get new features and bug fixes
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requiring non-trivial refactoring.
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* Patches applied to the main branch must also be applied to the last feature
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release branch, to be released in the next patch release of that feature
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series, when they fix critical problems:
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* Security issues.
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* Data loss bugs.
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* Crashing bugs.
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* Major functionality bugs in new features of the latest stable release.
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* Regressions from older versions of Django introduced in the current release
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series.
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The rule of thumb is that fixes will be backported to the last feature
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release for bugs that would have prevented a release in the first place
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(release blockers).
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* Security fixes and data loss bugs will be applied to the current main branch,
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the last two feature release branches, and any other supported long-term
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support release branches.
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* Documentation fixes generally will be more freely backported to the last
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release branch. That's because it's highly advantageous to have the docs for
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the last release be up-to-date and correct, and the risk of introducing
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regressions is much less of a concern.
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As a concrete example, consider a moment in time halfway between the release of
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Django 5.1 and 5.2. At this point in time:
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* Features will be added to the development main branch, to be released as
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Django 5.2.
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* Critical bug fixes will be applied to the ``stable/5.1.x`` branch, and
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released as 5.1.1, 5.1.2, etc.
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* Security fixes and bug fixes for data loss issues will be applied to
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``main`` and to the ``stable/5.1.x``, ``stable/5.0.x``, and
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``stable/4.2.x`` (LTS) branches. They will trigger the release of ``5.1.1``,
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``5.0.5``, ``4.2.8``, etc.
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* Documentation fixes will be applied to main, and, if easily backported, to
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the latest stable branch, ``5.1.x``.
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.. _release-process:
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Release process
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===============
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Django uses a time-based release schedule, with feature releases every eight
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months or so.
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After each feature release, the release manager will publish a timeline for the
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next feature release. The timeline for an upcoming feature release can be found
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in the corresponding wiki roadmap page, e.g.
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https://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/Version6.0Roadmap.
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Feature release schedule and stages
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-----------------------------------
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Active development / Pre-feature freeze
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Work begins on the feature release ``A.B`` after the feature freeze of the
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previous release, i.e. when the ``stable/A.B-1.x`` branch is forked.
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You can find the current branch under active development in the
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`Django release process
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<https://code.djangoproject.com/#Djangoreleaseprocess>`_ on Trac.
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Feature freeze / Alpha release
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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All major and minor features, including deprecations and breaking changes, must
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be merged by the feature freeze. Any features not done by this point will be
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deferred to the next feature release.
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At this point, the ``stable/A.B.x`` branch will be forked from ``main``.
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Non-release blocking bug fix freeze / Beta release
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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After the alpha, all bug fixes merged in ``main`` are also backported to
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``stable/A.B.x``. Refactors are backported at the discretion of the merger.
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Mergers will be more and more conservative with backports, to avoid introducing
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regressions.
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In parallel to this phase, ``main`` can continue to receive new features, to be
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released in the ``A.B+1`` cycle.
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Translation string freeze / Release candidate release
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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If there is still a consistent stream of release blockers coming in at the
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planned release candidate date, a beta 2 will be released to encourage further
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testing and the release candidate date will be pushed out ~1 month.
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The release candidate marks the string freeze, and it happens at least two
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weeks before the final release. Translators can then submit updated
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translations for inclusion in the final release. After this point, new
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translatable strings must not be added.
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After the release candidate, only release blockers and documentation fixes are
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backported.
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Final release
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Ideally, the final release will ship two weeks after the last release
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candidate.
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If there are major bugs still being found 2 weeks after the release candidate,
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there will be a decision on how to proceed (likely another release candidate
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would be issued and the final release date will be pushed out).
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Bug-fix releases
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----------------
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After a feature release (e.g. A.B), the previous release will go into bugfix
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mode.
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The branch for the previous feature release (e.g. ``stable/A.B-1.x``) will
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include bugfixes. Critical bugs fixed on main must *also* be fixed on the
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bugfix branch; this means that commits need to cleanly separate bug fixes from
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feature additions. The developer who commits a fix to main will be
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responsible for also applying the fix to the current bugfix branch.
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