Development Focus
-----------------

We are entering the last weeks of the 2023.2 Bobcat development cycle.
From now until the final release, we'll send a countdown email like this
every week.

It's probably a good time for teams to take stock of their library and
client work that needs to be completed yet. The non-client library freeze
is coming up, followed closely by the client lib freeze. Please plan
accordingly to avoid any last minute rushes to get key functionality in.

General Information
-------------------

Next week is the Extra-ATC freeze, in preparation for elections. All
contributions to OpenStack are valuable, but some are not expressed as
Gerrit code changes. Please list active contributors to your project team
who do not have a code contribution this cycle, and therefore won't
automatically be considered an Active Technical Contributor and allowed
to vote. This is done by adding extra-atcs to
https://opendev.org/openstack/governance/src/branch/master/reference/projects.yaml
before the Extra-ATC freeze on August 17th, 2023.

A quick reminder of the upcoming freeze dates. Those vary depending on
deliverable type:

* General libraries (except client libraries) need to have their last
  feature release before Non-client library freeze (August 24th, 2023).
  Their stable branches are cut early.

* Client libraries (think python-*client libraries) need to have their
  last feature release before Client library freeze (August 31st, 2023)

* Deliverables following a cycle-with-rc model (that would be most
  services) observe a Feature freeze on that same date, August 31st, 2023.
  Any feature addition beyond that date should be discussed on the
  mailing-list and get PTL approval. After feature freeze, cycle-with-rc
  deliverables need to produce a first release candidate (and a stable
  branch) before RC1 deadline (September 14th)

* Deliverables following cycle-with-intermediary model can release as
  necessary, but in all cases before Final RC deadline (September 28th)

Finally, now is also a good time to start planning what highlights you
want for your deliverables in the cycle highlights. The deadline to
submit an initial version for those is set to Feature freeze (August 31st, 2023).

Background on cycle-highlights:
http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/2017-December/125613.html
Project Team Guide, Cycle-Highlights:
https://docs.openstack.org/project-team-guide/release-management.html#cycle-highlights
knelson [at] openstack.org/diablo_rojo on IRC is available if you need
help selecting or writing your highlights

Upcoming Deadlines & Dates
--------------------------

Extra-ATC freeze: August 17th, 2023 (R-7 week)
Non-client library freeze: August 24th, 2023 (R-6 week)
Client library freeze: August 31st, 2023 (R-5 week)
Bobcat-3 milestone: August 31st, 2023 (R-5 week)
Final 2023.2 Bobcat release: October 4th, 2023


Előd Illés
irc: elodilles @ #openstack-release