Status

RESOLVED 

OutcomeApproved
Minutes Link2020 02 06 TSC Minutes. Related discussions in 2019 12 19 TSC Minutes, 2020 01 23 TSC Minutes, and 2020 01 30 TSC Minutes.

Overview of Proposal

One of the motivations for projects to get to Active status is that being in Active status is a requirement for having a "First Major Release". The reason for this requirement is that historically First Major Releases have been associated with significant Hyperledger expenses related to performing a security audit, getting approval from the TSC, and engaging in communication activities to promote the release. At the same time meeting all the Incubation Exit criteria can be challenging for projects even though the software they are producing might be well developed enough to otherwise qualify for a first major release.

This proposal is to replace "Major Releases" with "Promoted Releases" which effectively separates all the activities currently associated with First Major Release (and subsequent ones) previously mentioned from issuing a major release. This provides more flexibility in deciding what gets promoted and how the code gets released. In particular this allows projects to have major releases while in Incubation, reducing the pressure on projects to move to Active status to do so and saving Hyperledger expenses.

Formal Proposal(s)

Replace "Major Release" with "Promoted Release" (whether First or subsequent).

A promoted release is a release of an active HL project with extensive support by the HL organization. This support typically includes things like a security audit, a licence scan, legal review, and official marketing. It is important to note that this is not exclusive and such activities may be conducted at other times at the discretion of the TSC and/or LF staff.

The criteria for Promoted Releases remain the same as the ones currently defined for First Major Release but Promoted Releases do not require explicit approval from TSC.

Projects in Incubation can have major releases that are not Promoted Releases. Conversely, Promoted Releases are not limited to major releases.

Promoted Releases are expected to be initiated at the request of the projects.

Action Items

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Reviewed By


21 Comments

  1. Tracy Kuhrt

    Will we remove "First Major Release" from the lifecycle?

    1. Arnaud J Le Hors

      I think we could go either way but I would favor removing it indeed. This would have the additional benefit of solving the issue related to projects having a "First Major Release" when they've actually already had several major releases before.

  2. Swetha Repakula

    Promoted releases would still require active status?

  3. Dan Middleton

    I think we are going to spend a lot of time talking about renaming something. If this was code we'd call it bikeshedding.

    Here are the criteria we already voted on this year for a first major release:
    Criteria for First Major Release

    It involves requirements and guidance. Requirements to enforce licensing and basic security. Guidance to give projects freedom to make project-specific decisions while being aware of best practices.

    I think this proposal is just to rename /First Major Release/First Promoted Release/

    1. Tracy Kuhrt

      Dan, I agree that this is just:

      s/First Major Release/Promoted Release/g

    2. Hart Montgomery

      I agree that this is a renaming issue (and hopefully it won't be discussed extensively!).

      I do think it is necessary though, since as it stands right now projects might have a "first major release" in Hyperledger that is not remotely their first release.  The naming change avoids confusion. 

  4. Silona Bonewald

    What does "promoted" mean? Like security audits, Press releases etc.  Basically where Hyperledger spends significant amounts of money on a project.

  5. Tracy Kuhrt

    I am not sure that I agree with the addition of the following in this proposal (since this proposal has nothing to do with incubation exit criteria).

    Besides, replace "Committer" with "Maintainer" in Incubation Exit Criteria.

    I do agree that this change needs to be made though.

    1. Arnaud J Le Hors

      Fine. Let's drop it.

  6. Hart Montgomery

    Since we need to define promoted release, here's an attempt (inspired by Tracy's and Dan's comments):


    A promoted release is a release of an active HL project that the TSC has recommended for extensive support by the HL organization.  This support typically will include things like a security audit, a licence scan, legal review, and official marketing.  It is important to note that these activities may not be restricted to only promoted releases and may be conducted at other times at the discretion of the TSC and LF staff.


    Thoughts?  Hoping to avoid having to do live wordsmithing at the TSC meeting this week....

    1. Arnaud J Le Hors

      Thanks for your input Hart. I made some changes but added text on that basis.

      1. Hart Montgomery

        Looks good to me, thanks! 

  7. Arnaud J Le Hors

    Despite the lively discussion we had last week and the stated desire to continue the conversation offline I haven't seen much happening.

    One thing I've been struggling with is that the proposal requires approval from the TSC when in reality, as it was stated on last week's call, marketing doesn't ask TSC for permission to launch a communication campaign, and David explained that due to time constraints he hasn't waited for any approval from TSC to initiate security audits either. So, the required approval from TSC is at odd with current practice and doesn't seem to address any actual problem. For this reason I suggest we drop it.

    This means that the criteria for promoted release exist to set expectations as to when projects are entitled to have a promoted release but the enforcement is left to marketing+staff.

  8. Christopher Ferris

    This works for me. Thanks

  9. Gari Singh

    I'm good with this

  10. Hart Montgomery

    Question:  if this passes, is there anything that a project gets from being in active status, other than the status marker itself?

    Regardless, like most others, I'm fine with this.  It seems to be writing down the process for what already happens, which is a good thing.

    1. Arnaud J Le Hors

      The criteria for First Major Release include being in Active status, which was confirmed by the TSC as of last week (see Forgo Active state requirement for First Major Release) so, this requirement carries over to Promoted Release.

  11. Arnaud J Le Hors

    Hart Montgomery I added a statement about Promoted Releases being initiated by projects. I hope this addresses the point you made on the call.

    1. Hart Montgomery

      Thanks!  I guess with this in mind, the only thing left is to possibly clarify in the text the relationship between active status and promoted releases.

    2. Arnaud J Le Hors

      I added a link to the criteria.

      1. Hart Montgomery

        Great, thanks!  That is something we definitely need to specify.