Open Stack

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

We are entering the last weeks of the Victoria 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 future 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 28.

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 (Sept 3). Their
  stable branches are cut early.

* Client libraries (think python-*client libraries) need to have their
  last feature release before Client library freeze (Sept 10)

* Deliverables following a cycle-with-rc model (that would be most
  services) observe a Feature freeze on that same date, Sept 10. 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 (Sept 24)

* Deliverables following cycle-with-intermediary model can release as
  necessary, but in all cases before Final RC deadline (Oct 8)

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 (Sept 10).

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
--------------------------

Non-client library freeze: September 3 (R-6 week)
Client library freeze: September 10 (R-5 week)
Victoria-3 milestone: September 10 (R-5 week)
Victoria release: October 14