| --- |
| title: "Release Plan for Gerrit 3.7" |
| tags: news |
| keywords: news |
| permalink: 2022-09-29-gerrit-3.7-release-plan.html |
| summary: "Release Plan for Gerrit 3.7" |
| hide_sidebar: true |
| hide_navtoggle: true |
| toc: true |
| --- |
| |
| ## High Level Release Plan |
| |
| | Date | Activity | |
| |-----------|----------------------------------------------------| |
| | Sep 30 | Create stable-3.7 branch, Release '3.7.0-rc0' | |
| | Oct 7 | Release `3.7.0-rc1` | |
| | Oct 14 | Release `3.7.0-rc2` | |
| | Oct 21 | Release `3.7.0-rc3` - Feature freeze deadline | |
| | Oct 28 | Release `3.7.0-rc4` | |
| | Nov 4 | Release `3.7.0-rc5` | |
| | Nov 7-9 | Gerrit Hackathon | |
| | Nov 9 | Final release of `3.7.0` | |
| | Nov 10-11 | [Gerrit User Summit 2022](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gerrit-user-summit-2022-tickets-424995963367) | |
| |
| ## Moving to Discord |
| |
| The Gerrit Code Review community has moved to [Discord](https://discord.com/invite/HkGbBJHYbY) |
| and the Gerrit v3.7 release uses a dedicated channel |
| [`gerrit-3_7-release`](https://discord.com/channels/775374026587373568/1022856831535689838) |
| for the coordination and collaboration on the all the activities associated with |
| the release. |
| |
| ## Change Acceptance Policy for the Stable Branch |
| |
| We don't expect that all ongoing feature development will be completed before |
| the stable branch is created, so we will allow the completion of existing |
| features on the stable branch to bring features to completion *until `rc3`*. |
| |
| The development of new features is very rarely accepted on the stable branch |
| as it may compromise the stability of the release. |
| |
| After `rc3` only E2E test and associated bug fixes will be accepted on the |
| stable branch. |
| |
| We would prefer that bug fixes are pushed for review directly onto the stable |
| branch, rather than onto master to be cherry-picked back. The reason for this |
| is to avoid that the release managers need to spend time manually checking |
| which changes need to be backported, which could result in changes being |
| overlooked. |
| |
| ## Gerrit Hackathon |
| |
| The Gerrit hackathon is planned during the release week, sponsored and hosted by [GerritForge Ltd](https://www.gerritforge.com) |
| in [London](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gerrit-user-summit-2022-tickets-424995963367). |
| |
| We also encourage all the [JGit contributors and committers](https://projects.eclipse.org/projects/technology.jgit/who) |
| to join the event. |
| |
| We will also ask the community members to allocate some of their time during the |
| hackathon to help with finalizing the release: |
| |
| - Test the release candidates. |
| - Report issues. |
| - Triage and troubleshoot incoming bug reports. |
| - Make fixes. |
| - Do code reviews. |
| - Test the latest head of the stable branch. |
| |
| To expedite reviews of Library-Compliance and frontend changes, we will ask |
| Google to make some members available in the EU time-zone. |
| |
| > NOTE: for all of those who cannot travel or is still blocked by travelling restrictions |
| > [GerritForge](https://www.gerritforge.com) will setup a remote collaboration channel |
| > where anyone around the world could join the hackathon remotely. |
| |
| ## End-to-end Testing |
| |
| We plan to use the |
| [Gatling e2e test framework for Git](https://gerrit-review.googlesource.com/Documentation/dev-e2e-tests.html), |
| developed by GerritForge and Ericsson, to test the stability of the release on a |
| production-like setup on AWS automatically provisioned using the |
| [aws-gerrit](https://gerrit.googlesource.com/aws-gerrit) templates. |
| |
| [GerritForge](https://www.gerritforge.com) has also offered its own AWS infrastructure to test the |
| scalability of Gerrit v3.7, particularly with medium to large sized projects and in a |
| multi-primary setup. |
| |
| The [Gerrit-CI](https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com) has also an automated |
| [aws-gerrit pipeline](https://gerrit-ci.gerritforge.com/job/gatling-gerrit-test/) |
| that will be pointed to the stable-3.7 branch and run on a daily basis. |
| |
| ## End of Life for Gerrit 3.4.x |
| |
| Per the support policy mentioned on the |
| [project homepage](https://www.gerritcodereview.com/support.html#supported-versions), |
| after 3.7.0 is released 3.4.x will reach end of life and will no longer be |
| actively supported, which also means that the CI will drop the support for builds |
| and validations with Java 8. |
| |
| Support for 3.5.x and 3.6.x will continue as usual. |
| Users of 3.4.x or earlier are recommended to upgrade to one of these versions. |