Open Stack

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

We are getting close to the end of the 2023.2 Bobcat cycle! Next week on 
August 31st is the bobcat-3 milestone, also known as feature freeze. 
It's time to wrap up feature work in the services and their client 
libraries, and defer features that won't make it to the 2024.1 Caracal 
cycle.

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

This coming week is the deadline for client libraries: their last 
feature release needs to happen before "Client library freeze" on August 
31st. Only bugfix releases will be allowed beyond this point.

When requesting those library releases, you can also include the 
stable/2023.2 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

August 31st is also the deadline for feature work in all OpenStack 
deliverables following the cycle-with-rc model. To help those projects 
produce a first release candidate in time, only bugfixes should be 
allowed in the master branch beyond this point. Any feature work past 
that deadline has to be raised as a Feature Freeze Exception (FFE) and 
approved by the team PTL.

Finally, feature freeze is also the deadline for submitting a first 
version of your cycle-highlights. Cycle highlights are the raw data that 
helps shape what is communicated in press releases and other release 
activity at the end of the cycle, avoiding direct contacts from 
marketing folks. See 
https://docs.openstack.org/project-team-guide/release-management.html#cycle-highlights 
for more details.

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

Bobcat-3 milestone (feature freeze): August 31st (R-5 week)
RC1 deadline: September 14th (R-3 week)
Final RC deadline: September 28th (R-1 week)
Final 2023.2 Bobcat release: October 4th, 2023

-- 
Thierry Carrez (ttx)