Release Process
These pages give an overview of the release process with as many details as there are available at the time of writing.
Release Schedule
With RFC85, the release schedule is largely already dictated below:
| Weeks from Release | Branches Affected | Events |
|---|---|---|
| -8 Weeks | Start discussion about "Feature Freeze & Release Blockers" with ecosystems maintainers | |
| -6 Weeks | All branches | Restrict breaking changes to Release Critical Packages |
| -4 Weeks | All branches | Restrict all breaking changes with the exception of updates to desktop environment |
| -3 Weeks | master | Wait for staging-next merge into master, begin first staging-next cycle |
| -3 Weeks | master | Begin Zero Hydra Failures campaign |
| -2 Weeks | master | Wait for first staging-next merge into master; begin second staging-next cycle |
| -2 Weeks | staging | Unrestrict all breaking changes; new changes will not be present in the release |
| -1 Weeks | master | Wait for second staging-next merge into master |
| -1 Weeks | staging-next | Unrestrict all breaking changes; new changes will not be present in the release |
| -1 Weeks | master, release | Perform Branch-off, create release channels, create new beta / unstable tags |
| -1 Weeks | master | Mark failing packages as broken |
| -1 Weeks | master, release | Create the release branch and tags |
| -1 Weeks | release-xx.xx | Create release channels |
| -1 Weeks | master, release | Fixes need to use the "backport" workflow to arrive in the release |
| -1 Weeks | master | Unrestrict all breaking changes; new changes will not be present in the release |
| -1 Weeks | release-xx.xx | Prepare for release, finish remaining issues |
| 0 Weeks | release-xx.xx | Release! Marks the end of the Zero Hydra Failures campaign. |
| +1 Weeks | Release Retrospective, everyone is invited to give feedback! | |
| +4 Weeks | End of life cleanup |
As Nixpkgs is a project with contributors spanning across many timezones, it is best to make the dates go into effect in accordance to the Anywhere on Earth (AoE) timezone.
Clarification of terms:
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
staging | Git branch used to batch changes which cause large rebuilds (500+ packages). This is to avoid straining infrastructure trying to build large package sets with each change. Since nix captures all changes in a dependency tree, a change to a fundamental package like glibc can affect 50,000+ packages. |
staging-next | Git branch used to build all of the batched changes. This branch has a Hydra jobset which is used to fix regressions before the changes will be merged into master. |
ZHF | Zero Hydra Failures. A 2-4 week window before a release where there is a large attempt to stabilize failing builds. Also allows for additional "housekeeping" such as removing stale, abandoned, or unmaintained packages. |
The purpose of these changes are mainly to push "riskier" PRs to being merged earlier,
or after a release. Merging pull-requests which may have many downstream breakages should
be avoided right before ZHF, as ZHF should focus on stabilization of the nixpkgs package
set, and not distracted by large noise-to-signal build failures. Also, fixes to packages
which required the staging process will likely require additional staging cycles to
remedy the regressions.