releases/docs/concepts.rst
2014-02-11 11:55:24 -08:00

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========
Concepts
========
Basic conceptual info about how Releases organizes and thinks about issues and
releases. For details on formatting/etc (e.g. so you can interpret the examples
below), see :doc:`/usage`.
Issue and release types
=======================
* Issues are always one of three types: **features**, **bug fixes** or
**support items**.
* **Features** are (typically larger) changes adding new behavior.
* **Bug fixes** are (typically minor) changes addressing incorrect
behavior, crashes, etc.
* **Support items** vary in size but are usually non-code-related changes,
such as documentation or packaging updates.
* Releases also happen to come in three flavors:
* **Major releases** are backwards incompatible releases, often with
large/sweeping changes to a codebase.
* They increment the first version number only, e.g. ``1.0.0``.
* **Feature releases** (sometimes called **minor** or **secondary**) are
backwards compatible with the previous major release, and focus on adding
new functionality (code, or support, or both.) They sometimes include
major/complex bug fixes which are too risky to include in a bugfix
release.
* The second version number is incremented for these, e.g. ``1.1.0``.
* **Bugfix releases** (sometimes called **tertiary**) focus on fixing
incorrect behavior while minimizing the risk of creating more bugs.
Rarely, they will include small new features deemed important enough to
backport from their 'native' feature release.
* These releases increment the third/final version number, e.g.
``1.1.1``.
Release organization
====================
We parse changelog timelines so the resulting per-release issue lists honor the
above descriptions. Here are the core rules, with examples. See :doc:`/usage`
for details on formatting/etc.
* **By default, bugfixes go into bugfix releases, features and support items go
into feature releases.**
* Input::
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>`
* :support:`4` Updated our test runner
* :bug:`3` Another bugfix
* :feature:`2` Implemented new feature
* :bug:`1` Fixed a bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.0.1``: bug #1, bug #3
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2, support #4
* **Bugfixes are assumed to backport to all stable release lines by default,
and are displayed as such.** However, this can be overridden on a per-release
and/or per-bug basis - see later bullet points.
* Input::
* :release:`1.1.1 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.2 <date>`
* :bug:`3` Fixed another bug, onoes
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>`
* :feature:`2` Implemented new feature
* :bug:`1` Fixed a bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.0.1``: bug #1
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2
* ``1.0.2``: bug #3
* ``1.1.1``: bug #3
* **Bugfixes marked 'major' go into feature releases instead.**
* Input::
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>`
* :bug:`3 major` Big bugfix with lots of changes
* :feature:`2` Implemented new feature
* :bug:`1` Fixed a bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.0.1``: bug #1
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2, bug #3
* **Features or support items marked 'backported' appear in both bugfix and
feature releases.**
* Input::
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>`
* :bug:`4` Fixed another bug
* :feature:`3` Regular feature
* :feature:`2 backported` Small new feature worth backporting
* :bug:`1` Fixed a bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.0.1``: bug #1, feature #2, bug #4
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2, feature #3
* **Releases implicitly include all issues from their own, and prior, release
lines.** (Again, unless the release explicitly states otherwise - see below.)
* For example, in the below changelog (remembering that changelogs are
written in descending order from newest to oldest entry) the code
released as ``1.1.0`` includes the changes from bugs #1 and #3, in
addition to its explicitly stated contents of feature #2::
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>`
* :bug:`3` Another bugfix
* :feature:`2` Implemented new feature
* :bug:`1` Fixed a bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Again, to be explicit, the rendered changelog displays this breakdown:
* ``1.0.1``: bug #1, bug #3
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2
But it's *implied* that ``1.1.0`` includes the contents of ``1.0.1``
because it released afterwards/simultaneously and is a higher release
line.
* **Releases may be told explicitly which issues to include** (using a
comma-separated list.) This is useful for the rare bugfix that gets
backported beyond the actively supported release lines.
For example, below shows a project whose lifecycle is "release 1.0; release
1.1 and drop active support for 1.0; put out a special 1.0.x release."
Without the explicit issue list for 1.0.1, Releases would roll up all
bugfixes, including the two that didn't actually apply to the 1.0 line.
* Input::
* :release:`1.0.1 <date>` 1, 5
* :release:`1.1.1 <date>`
* :bug:`5` Bugfix that applied back to 1.0.
* :bug:`4` Bugfix that didn't apply to 1.0, only 1.1
* :bug:`3` Bugfix that didn't apply to 1.0, only 1.1
* :release:`1.1.0 <date>`
* :feature:`2` Implemented new feature
* :bug:`1` Fixed a 1.0.0 bug
* :release:`1.0.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.1.0``: feature #2
* ``1.1.1``: bugs #3, #4 and #5
* ``1.0.1``: bugs #1 and #5 only
* **Bugfix issues may be told explicitly which release line they 'start' in.**
This is useful for bugs that don't go back all the way to the oldest actively
supported line - it keeps them from showing up in "too-old" releases.
The below example includes a project actively supporting 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7
release lines, with a couple of bugfixes that only applied to 1.6+.
* Input::
* :release:`1.7.1 <date>`
* :release:`1.6.2 <date>`
* :release:`1.5.3 <date>`
* :bug:`50` Bug applying to all lines
* :bug:`42 (1.6+)` A bug only applying to the new feature in 1.6
* :release:`1.7.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.6.1 <date>`
* :release:`1.5.2 <date>`
* :feature:`25` Another new feature
* :bug:`35` Bug that applies to all lines
* :bug:`34` Bug that applies to all lines
* :release:`1.6.0 <date>`
* :release:`1.5.1 <date>`
* :feature:`22` Some new feature
* :bug:`20` Bugfix
* :release:`1.5.0 <date>`
* Result:
* ``1.5.1``: bug #20
* ``1.6.0``: feature #22
* ``1.5.2``: bugs #34, #35
* ``1.6.1``: bugs #34, #35
* ``1.7.0``: feature #25
* ``1.5.3``: bug #50 only
* ``1.6.2``: bugs #50 and #42
* ``1.7.1``: bugs #50 and #42