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Now that we have a user forum in addition to qubes-users, it makes more sense to link to /support/ than to link directly to qubes-users (or to the forum, for that matter). This layer of redirection means allows us to update just one thing (namely, the /support/ page) instead of having to hunt through all the documentation every time support information changes.
162 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
162 lines
7.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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layout: doc
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title: Version Scheme
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permalink: /doc/version-scheme/
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redirect_from:
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- /en/doc/version-scheme/
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- /doc/VersionScheme/
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- /wiki/VersionScheme/
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---
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Version Scheme
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==============
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Beginning with R3 release, we change (and formalise) the versioning scheme.
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From now on, it will be as follows.
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Qubes distributions and products
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--------------------------------
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We intend to make it easy to make a remix of Qubes, targeting another
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hypervisor or isolation provider. We may also create commercial products
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intended for specific circumstances. There is one distinguished distribution
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called **Qubes OS**. All source code for it is available for download under GPL
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license and is openly developed on the mailing lists. The rest of this document
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discusses Qubes OS. Another remix may have its own version series.
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Release version
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---------------
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Qubes OS as a whole is released from time to time. Version scheme for all
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releases is modeled after Linux kernel version numbers. When announcing a new
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release, we decide on the major.minor version (like `3.0`) and release
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`3.0-rc1`. When we feel that enough progress has been made, we put `3.0-rc2`
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and so on. All these versions are considered unstable and not ready for
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production. You may ask for support on mailing lists (specifically
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**qubes-devel**), but it is not guaranteed (you may for example get answer
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“update to newer `-rc`”). Public ISO image may or may not be available.
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When enough development has been made, we announce the first stable version,
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like e.g. `3.0.0` (i.e. without `-rc`). This version is considered stable and
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we support it for some period. Core components are branched at this moment and
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bugfixes are backported from master branch. Please see [Help, Support, Mailing
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Lists, and Forum] for places to ask questions about stable releases. No major
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features and interface incompatibilities are to be included in this release. We
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release bugfixes as `3.0.1`, `3.0.2` and so on, while new features come into the
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next release e.g. `3.1-rcX`.
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Tickets in the tracker are sorted out by release major.minor, such as `3.0`,
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`3.1` (trac calls this “milestone”).
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Release schedule
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----------------
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There is no specific schedule for major and minor other that more general
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roadmap. When time comes, Supreme Committee declares feature freeze and tags
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`-rc1` and releases ISO image. From this time on, no new features are accepted.
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Also a strict time schedule kicks in.
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Each release candidate period is as follows. For the first two weeks we accept
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and assign bugreports to be fixed before next release candidate. For the next
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two weeks we generally focus on fixing assigned bugreports, so issues discovered
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during this time may be postponed until later RC. Finally after that there is
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one week of current-testing freeze, during which time no new packages are
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released, in hope that they will be installed by wider user base and tested.
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The next RC is released five weeks after the former. All packets are published
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in `current` repository and the cycle starts over. There should be no less than
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1 and no more than 3 release candidates before final release.
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<table>
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<thead>
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<tr><th>stage</th><th>time</th></tr>
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</thead>
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<tbody>
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<tr><td>initial testing</td><td>2 weeks</td></tr>
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<tr><td>bug fixing</td><td>2 weeks</td></tr>
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<tr><td>`current-testing` freeze</td><td>1 week</td></tr>
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</tbody>
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</table>
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Starting with second cycle (that is, after `-rc1`) two weeks into the cycle
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(after primary bug-reporting period) the Supreme Committee decides whether there
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should be another RC. If, based on remaining issues, the Committee decides to
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release final, then the Committee agrees upon the release date, which should be
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no later than a week after.
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Bug priorities
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--------------
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When deciding whether the current release candidate is the final one, the Committee
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takes bugs priorities into consideration. The meaning of them is as follows:
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* `blocker` - when any such bug is present in the current release candidate, it
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can't be considered final release. Bugs with this priority must be fixed before
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the next release candidate, even if that means delaying its release (which
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should be considered only last resort option).
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* `critical` - when any such bug is present in the current release candidate, it
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can't be considered final release. But such bugs are not qualified to delay
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next release candidate release.
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* `major` - existence of such bugs do not strictly prevent the current release
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candidate be considered final (but of course we should try hard to not have
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them there). Fixing bugs of this priority can be delayed and qualified as
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updates to the final stable release.
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* `minor` - existence of such bugs do not prevent the current release candidate
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be considered final. Fixing such bugs can be delayed to the next Qubes OS
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release. Eventually such fixes might be backported as an update to the stable
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release(s).
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All above is about bugs, no features should be assigned to the current release
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after first `-rc`. Supreme Committee is free to adjust priorities appropriately.
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Component version
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-----------------
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Qubes release is defined as specific versions of components, which are
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developed more or less separately. Their versions are composed of major and
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minor version of target Qubes OS release followed by third component which is
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just incremented. There is no apparent indication that given version is stable
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or not.
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There are some non-essential components like `qubes-apps-*` that are shared
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between releases. Their versions indicate oldest qubes-release that is
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supported. We try hard to support multiple releases by one branch to ease code
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maintenance.
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Different Qubes releases remixes may comprise of different components and
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version are not guaranteed to be monotonic between releases. We may decide that
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for newer release some component should be downgraded. There is no guarantee
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that arbitrary combination of different versions of random components will
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yield usable (or even install-able) compilation.
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Git tags and branches
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---------------------
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We mark each component version in the repository by tag containing
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`v<version>`. Likewise, each Qubes OS release is marked by `R<release>` tag.
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At the release of some release we create branches named like `release2`. Only
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bugfixes and compatible improvements are backported to these branches. These
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branches should compile. All new development is done in `master` branch. This
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branch is totally unsupported and may not even compile depending on maintainer
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of repository.
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All version and release tags should be made and signed by someone from ITL
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staff. Public keys are included in `qubes-builder` and available at
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[https://keys.qubes-os.org/keys/](https://keys.qubes-os.org/keys/).
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Check installed version
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-----------------
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If you want to know which version you are running, for example to report
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an issue, you can either check in the Qubes Manager menu under About / Qubes OS or in the file /etc/qubes-release in dom0. For the latter you can use a command like `cat /etc/qubes-release` in a dom0 terminal.
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[Help, Support, Mailing Lists, and Forum]: /support/
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