Proposal for an off-cycle release process.
Feedback is welcome.
Context
The Merge exposed some problems with the current Besu release process when it comes to critical bugs or hotfixes. Multiple off-cycle and cherry-picked releases caused frustration for contributors and confusion for some users. This document intends to create a proposal for a new hotfix (off-cycle) release process.
Process Proposal
Off-cycle releases - a new release category.
An off-cycle release is defined as:
- A release outside of the scheduled times here
- A release not on the typical Wednesday or Thursday slots
- A cherry-picked release (not off main branch)
Process:
- Any besu contributor may bring forth the need for an off-cycle release
- including justification of why the release is warranted
- via the besu-contributors channel in Discord
- Ideally, consensus is reached
- Scope for the release also needs to be agreed.
- via the besu-release channel in Discord
- If the contributor that brought forth the need has the support of one external group (defined as a contributor outside of their own organization, i.e. ConsenSys), the release can continue at an agreed upon time
If no consensus is reached after 24 hours, a singular organization or group of contributors may propose a release, and request approval following normal PR review process
Justification
- critical bug affecting a number of users
- regular release process will not address the issue in time