Open Stack

Development Focus
-----------------
Work on libraries should be wrapping up, in preparation for the various
library-related deadlines coming up. Now is a good time to make decisions on
deferring feature work to the next development cycle in order to be able to
focus on finishing already-started feature work.

General Information
-------------------
We are now getting close to the end of the cycle, and will be gradually
freezing feature work on the various deliverables that make up the OpenStack
release.

This coming week is the deadline for general libraries (except client
libraries): their last feature release needs to happen before "Non-client
library freeze" on April 2. Only bugfixes releases will be allowed beyond this
point.

When requesting those library releases, you can also include the stable/ussuri
branching request with the review (as an example, see the "branches" section
here: https://opendev.org/openstack/releases/src/branch/master/deliverables/pike/os-brick.yaml#n2)

In the next weeks we will have deadlines for:
* Client libraries (think python-*client libraries), which need to have their
  last feature release before "Client library freeze" (April 9)
* Deliverables following a cycle-with-rc model (that would be most services),
  which observe a Feature freeze on that same date, April 9. Any feature
  addition beyond that date should be discussed on the mailing-list and get PTL
  approval.

As we are getting to the point of creating stable/ussuri branches, this would
be a good point for teams to review membership in their $project-stable-maint
groups. Once the stable/ussuri branches are cut for a repo, the ability to
approve any necessary backports into those branches for ussuri will be limited
to the members of that stable team. If there are any questions about stable
policy or stable team membership, please reach out in the #openstack-stable
channel.

Upcoming Deadlines & Dates
--------------------------
Non-client library freeze: April 2 (R-6 week)
Client library freeze: April 9 (R-5 week)
Ussuri-3 milestone (including cycle highlights): April 9 (R-5 week)
Cycle Highlights Due: April 9 (R-5 week)
Ussuri final release: May 13