[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 00/26] Major library version bump

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

On Thu, 26 Jan 2023, at 23:16, Michael Niedermayer wrote:
> I think in general these are the constraints to optimize our release timing
> against:
>
> 1. We seem to want 2 releases per year

Yes.

> 2. If we do a major bump, it should ideally happen after a release not 
> before to give time for stabilization and to give max features to the old 
> API/ABI

We said that one of those release would break ABI and API, and that would be the
one at the dec/jan time

> 3. The releases which get into distros should be LTS

Yes

> 4. LTS releases should be timed so that they are getting into major 
> distros
> 5. What gets into major distros should have maximum features and 
> maximum stability
> 6. We should try to stick to what we said previously
> 7. We should have a predictable release cycle


> So what do people think ?
> when should i branch 5.2, when 6.0 ? and when 6.1 and then 6.2 or 7.0 when ?
> also which should be LTS ?

We've had this discussion the last time, notably for whether we should make 5.0 an LTS or 5.1 an LTS and we said:
5.0 in jan 2022, 5.1 in July 2022 with LTS
6.0 in jan 2023, 6.1 in July 2023
7.0 in jan 2024, 7.1 in July 2023 with LTS

We said 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 would be allowed to break API/ABI, aka big-bumps.

We said we could do more 5.x or 6.x releases, if we needed more than 2 releases per year.

We discussed that at several developer meetings, including the last one we had, a few weeks ago.

> Btw, did we say that we will bump API/ABI in 6.0 or just that we will make
> 6.0 in dec/jan ? 

Both.

> Iam pretty bad at remembering these plans, my notes say 6.0 in dec 2022 but
> that was not done because it would have competed with the LTS for inclusion
> in distros

No, because distro take a LONG time to integrate releases, because of the software dependencies adaptations.
So, in Feb, they will use the last release of the previous major branch (here, a 5.1).

Tbh, I don't see why we should do a 5.2, seeing that 6.0 would be the same features-set with just the ABI change, aka removing deprecated symbols.

Also, doing a 5.2 which would not be a LTS, while 5.1 is a LTS is not only very weird, but it also goes against what we said last time, that the last of the 5.x would be LTS (similar for 7.1).

I would just merge the bump, then branch 6.0 branch and wait a few weeks before releasing 6.0.
If some people strongly want a 5.2, branch 5.2 before the bump and do a release at the same time. 

-- 
Jean-Baptiste Kempf -  President
+33 672 704 734