Re: Xen 4.16 development update

[Ian Jackson <iwj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I wrote:
> Planned release schedule for Xen 4.16 (recap):
> 
>   Friday 24th September   PASSED        Last posting date
> 
>     Patches adding new features should be posted to the mailing list
>     by this cate, although perhaps not in their final version.
>     (3 weeks)
> 
>   Friday 15th October                   Feature freeze
>  
>     Patches adding new features should be committed by this date.
>     Straightforward bugfixes may continue to be accepted by
>     maintainers.

As previously noted, we have had a lack of review bandwidth which
means this release will be light on content.  We discussed but
rejected the possibility of extending the release (beyond Christmas,
to some time in January/February).

Under the circumstances, and considering some external constraints, I
am considering trying to *compress* the release schedule by
approximately one week.  The feature freeze data would remain the same
- we need to give people as much time to get things reviewed and into
tree as we can, but I think we can probably cut a week off the freeze.

That would look roughly like this:

>   Friday 15th October                   Feature freeze

      (2 weeks)

    Friday 29th October **tentatve**      Code freeze

      Bugfixes only, all changes to be approved by the Release Manager,
      on the basis of a (progressively stricter[*]) risk assessment.
      (2 weeks)

    Friday 12th November **tentative**    Hard code freeze [*]

      Bugfixes for serious bugs (including regressions), and low-risk
      fixes only.
      (0.5 weeks)

    Tuesday 16th November **tentative**   Branch off staging-4.16

      xen-unstable open again - with caveats to avoid release disruption.
      (1.5 weeks)

    Friday 26th November **tentative**    Final commits (docs/prep only)
    Week of 29th November **tentative**   Release
      (probably Tuesday or Wednesday)

Ian.