[[TOC]]

= Release Schedule =

The scope is to release new GRASS GIS versions at a more regular schedule.

**THIS IS A DRAFT OPEN FOR DISCUSSION**

== Suggestions ==

=== Scenario 1 ===

||= **Release**       =||= **Planned date** =||=**Remarks**=||= **!GitHub milestone**                                =||= **Important external releases =||
|| [[milestone:7.8.3]] || May 2020   ||                    || [[https://github.com/OSGeo/grass/milestone/1|GH 7.8.3]] || May 2020:  GDAL 3.1.0           ||
|| [[milestone:7.6.2]] || May 2020   || last release, EOL  ||                                                         || June 2020: QGIS 3.14.0          ||
|| 7.8.4               || Sep 2020   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.10.0              || Nov 2020   || forked from master ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.8.5               || Jan 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.10.1              || Mar 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.8.6               || May 2021   || last release, EOL  ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.10.2              || Jul 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 7.10.3              || Nov 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| [[milestone:8.0.0]] || Dec 2021   || forked from master ||                                                         ||                                 ||

=== Scenario 2 ===

WIP

Meta:

* Terminology is open to discussion, so please suggest if any term could be more clear.
* When reading, please don't just assume that, e.g., stable, means what you think it means, but see how it is defined here or used in the context; ask for clarification if needed.
* Current and present simple tense may refer to the suggested state. ("[On this scenario,] We have...", "...current release...")
* Versioning is still `major.minor.patch` (aka `major.minor.point`) and //more// or less semantic versioning.

In general:

* We have only one actively updated, maintained, and supported release series.
* Once a new major or minor release 
* All versions

!Versions/Releases/Builds:

* Latest release
 * This is the supported version users should install.
* Maintenance releases
 * Release of the latest minor version for all/any of the other release branches, i.e., release branches in the maintenance mode.
 * These versions (series/branches) are no longer actively updated, but are updated on demand, i.e., if you submit a patch to fix a bug, we will likely accept it and create a new release when there is enough changes accumulated.
 * There are two main use cases distros and large organizations.
  * For example, the version in Ubuntu 18.04 is 7.4, so there might be a next patch release in the 7.4 series.
 * These are announced only together with the next [latest?, supported?] release to avoid confusion in what is the latest release.

Git and branches:

* We have 3 kinds of branches:
 * Development: That's only the master branch.
 * Current release: That's always one latest release branch.
 * Maintenance: That's all the other release branches.
* Releases are tags on release branches.

||= **Release** =||= **Planned date** =||= **Remarks** =||= **Important external releases** =||
|| 7.8.3 || May 2020   ||                    || May 2020:  GDAL 3.1.0           ||
|| 7.6.2 || May 2020   || last release, EOL  || June 2020: QGIS 3.14.0          ||
|| 7.8.4 || Sep 2020   || last release, EOL  ||                                            ||                                 ||
|| 8.0.0 || Nov 2020   || before: 80 branch forked from master ||                                 ||
|| 8.0.1 || Mar 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 8.0.2 || Jul 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 8.0.3 || Nov 2021   ||                    ||                                                         ||                                 ||
|| 8.2.0 || Dec 2021   || before: 82 branch forked from master ||                                                         ||                                 ||

=== Scenario 3 ===

||= **Version** =||= **Date** =||= **Comment ** =||
|| 7.8.3 || May 2020 || Call it a real LTS ||
|| 7.8.4 || Sep 2020 || ||
|| 7.8.5 || Jan 2021 || ||
|| 7.8.6 || May 2021 || ||
|| 7.8.7 || Sep 2021 || Still with Python 2 ||
|| 8.0.0 || Oct 2020 || Release for early adopters ||
|| 8.0.1 || Dec 2020 || Just minor fixes ||
|| 8.2.0 || Mar 2021 || Still for early adopters ||
|| 8.2.1 || May 2021 || Just minor fixes ||
|| 8.4.0 || Oct 2021 || First 8 for everyone ||

== External release schedules ==

 * GDAL: https://github.com/OSGeo/gdal/milestones
 * PROJ: https://github.com/OSGeo/PROJ/milestones?direction=asc&sort=due_date&state=open
 * OSGeoLive: https://trac.osgeo.org/osgeolive/wiki/Release%20Schedule
 * QGIS: https://www.qgis.org/en/site/getinvolved/development/roadmap.html#release-schedule
 * R has the Easter release schedule for major releases, e.g. https://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/old/ 

== GRASS GIS versions in the various Linux distros ==

 * Comparison: https://repology.org/project/grass/versions