256 lines
11 KiB
XML
256 lines
11 KiB
XML
<!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
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"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"
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[<!ENTITY % poky SYSTEM "../poky.ent"> %poky; ] >
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<chapter id='ref-release-process'>
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<title>Yocto Project Releases and the Stable Release Process</title>
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<para>
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The Yocto Project release process is predictable and consists of both
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major and minor (point) releases.
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This brief chapter provides information on how releases are named, their
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life cycle, and their stability.
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</para>
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<section id='major-and-minor-release-cadence'>
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<title>Major and Minor Release Cadence</title>
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<para>
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The Yocto Project delivers major releases (e.g. &DISTRO;) using a six
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month cadence roughly timed each April and October of the year.
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Following are examples of some major YP releases with their codenames
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also shown.
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See the
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"<link linkend='major-release-codenames'>Major Release Codenames</link>"
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section for information on codenames used with major releases.
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<literallayout class='monospaced'>
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2.2 (Morty)
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2.1 (Krogoth)
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2.0 (Jethro)
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</literallayout>
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While the cadence is never perfect, this timescale facilitates
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regular releases that have strong QA cycles while not overwhelming
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users with too many new releases.
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The cadence is predictable and avoids many major holidays in various
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geographies.
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</para>
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<para>
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The Yocto project delivers minor (point) releases on an unscheduled
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basis and are usually driven by the accumulation of enough significant
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fixes or enhancements to the associated major release.
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Following are some example past point releases:
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<literallayout class='monospaced'>
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2.1.1
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2.1.2
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2.2.1
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</literallayout>
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The point release indicates a point in the major release branch where
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a full QA cycle and release process validates the content of the new
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branch.
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<note>
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Realize that there can be patches merged onto the stable release
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branches as and when they become available.
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</note>
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id='major-release-codenames'>
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<title>Major Release Codenames</title>
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<para>
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Each major release receives a codename that identifies the release in
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the
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<link linkend='yocto-project-repositories'>Yocto Project Source Repositories</link>.
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The concept is that branches of
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<link linkend='metadata'>Metadata</link>
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with the same codename are likely to be compatible and thus
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work together.
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<note>
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Codenames are associated with major releases because a Yocto
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Project release number (e.g. &DISTRO;) could conflict with
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a given layer or company versioning scheme.
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Codenames are unique, interesting, and easily identifiable.
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</note>
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Releases are given a nominal release version as well but the codename
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is used in repositories for this reason.
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You can find information on Yocto Project releases and codenames at
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<ulink url='https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Releases'></ulink>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id='stable-release-process'>
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<title>Stable Release Process</title>
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<para>
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Once released, the release enters the stable release process at which
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time a person is assigned as the maintainer for that stable release.
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This maintainer monitors activity for the release by investigating
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and handling nominated patches and backport activity.
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Only fixes and enhancements that have first been applied on the
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"master" branch (i.e. the current, in-development branch) are
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considered for backporting to a stable release.
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<note>
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The current Yocto Project policy regarding backporting is to
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consider bug fixes and security fixes only.
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Policy dictates that features are not backported to a stable
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release.
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This policy means generic recipe version upgrades are unlikely to
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be accepted for backporting.
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The exception to this policy occurs when a strong reason exists
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such as the fix happens to also be the preferred upstream approach.
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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Stable release branches have strong maintenance for about a year after
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their initial release.
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Should significant issues be found for any release regardless of its
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age, fixes could be backported to older releases.
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For issues that are not backported given an older release,
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Community LTS trees and branches exist where
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community members share patches for older releases.
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However, these types of patches do not go through the same release
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process as do point releases.
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You can find more information about stable branch maintenance at
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<ulink url='https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Stable_branch_maintenance'></ulink>.
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</para>
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</section>
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<section id='testing-and-quality-assurance'>
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<title>Testing and Quality Assurance</title>
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<para>
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Part of the Yocto Project development and release process is quality
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assurance through the execution of test strategies.
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Test strategies provide the Yocto Project team a way to ensure a
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release is validated.
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Additionally, because the test strategies are visible to you as a
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developer, you can validate your projects.
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This section overviews the available test infrastructure used in the
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Yocto Project.
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For information on how to run available tests on your projects, see the
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"<ulink url='&YOCTO_DOCS_DEV_URL;#performing-automated-runtime-testing'>Performing Automated Runtime Testing</ulink>"
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section in the Yocto Project Development Tasks Manual.
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</para>
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<para>
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The QA/testing infrastructure is woven into the project to the point
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where core developers take some of it for granted.
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The infrastructure consists of the following pieces:
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<itemizedlist>
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<listitem><para>
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<filename>bitbake-selftest</filename>:
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A standalone command that runs unit tests on key pieces of
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BitBake and its fetchers.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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<link linkend='ref-classes-sanity'><filename>sanity.bbclass</filename></link>:
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This automatically included class checks the build environment
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for missing tools (e.g. <filename>gcc</filename>) or common
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misconfigurations such as
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<link linkend='var-MACHINE'><filename>MACHINE</filename></link>
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set incorrectly.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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<link linkend='ref-classes-insane'><filename>insane.bbclass</filename></link>:
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This class checks the generated output from builds for sanity.
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For example, if building for an ARM target, did the build
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produce ARM binaries.
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If, for example, the build produced PPC binaries then there
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is a problem.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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<link linkend='ref-classes-testimage*'><filename>testimage.bbclass</filename></link>:
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This class performs runtime testing of images after they are
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built.
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The tests are usually used with
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<ulink url='&YOCTO_DOCS_DEV_URL;#dev-manual-qemu'>QEMU</ulink>
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to boot the images and check the combined runtime result
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boot operation and functions.
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However, the test can also use the IP address of a machine to
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test.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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<ulink url='&YOCTO_DOCS_DEV_URL;#testing-packages-with-ptest'><filename>ptest</filename></ulink>:
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Runs tests against packages produced during the build for a
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given piece of software.
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The test allows the packages to be be run within a target
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image.
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</para></listitem>
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<listitem><para>
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<filename>oe-selftest</filename>:
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Tests combination BitBake invocations.
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These tests operate outside the OpenEmbedded build system
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itself.
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The <filename>oe-selftest</filename> can run all tests by
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default or can run selected tests or test suites.
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<note>
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Running <filename>oe-selftest</filename> requires
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host packages beyond the "Essential" grouping.
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See the
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"<link linkend='required-packages-for-the-host-development-system'>Required Packages for the Host Development System</link>"
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section for more information.
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</note>
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</para></listitem>
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</itemizedlist>
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</para>
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<para>
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Originally, much of this testing was done manually.
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However, significant effort has been made to automate the tests so
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that more people can use them and the Yocto Project development team
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can run them faster and more efficiently.
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</para>
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<para>
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The Yocto Project's main Autobuilder
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(<filename>autobuilder.yoctoproject.org</filename>) publicly tests
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each Yocto Project release's code in the
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<link linkend='oe-core'>OE-Core</link>, Poky, and BitBake
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repositories.
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The testing occurs for both the current state of the
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"master" branch and also for submitted patches.
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Testing for submitted patches usually occurs in the
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"ross/mut" branch in the <filename>poky-contrib</filename> repository
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(i.e. the master-under-test branch) or in the "master-next" branch
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in the <filename>poky</filename> repository.
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<note>
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You can find all these branches in the Yocto Project
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<link linkend='source-repositories'>Source Repositories</link>.
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</note>
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Testing within these public branches ensures in a publicly visible way
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that all of the main supposed architectures and recipes in OE-Core
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successfully build and behave properly.
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</para>
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<para>
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Various features such as <filename>multilib</filename>, sub
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architectures (e.g. <filename>x32</filename>,
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<filename>poky-tiny</filename>, <filename>musl</filename>,
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<filename>no-x11</filename> and and so forth),
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<filename>bitbake-selftest</filename>, and
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<filename>oe-selftest</filename> are tested as part of
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the QA process of a release.
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Complete testing and validation for a release takes the Autobuilder
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workers several hours.
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<note>
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The Autobuilder workers are non-homogeneous, which means regular
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testing across a variety of Linux distributions occurs.
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The Autobuilder is limited to only testing QEMU-based setups and
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not real hardware.
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</note>
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</para>
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<para>
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Finally, in addition to the Autobuilder's tests, the Yocto Project
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QA team also performs testing on a variety of platforms, which includes
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actual hardware, to ensure expected results.
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</para>
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</section>
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</chapter>
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<!--
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vim: expandtab tw=80 ts=4
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-->
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