Schedules/Plasma 6: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:52, 13 June 2024

Preamble

Plasma is the desktop developed by the KDE community. Version 6 of Plasma is being developed, built and shipped on top of Qt 6.

Further details for Plasma 6 can be found on the Wiki, a current list of open bugs at Bugzilla.

Purpose of this page

This page contains the release schedule for previous and future versions of KDEs Plasma 6.

The schedule may be subject to change for several reasons:

if the quality of a major component is not deemed good enough
if the release of the required KDE Frameworks version is delayed
if the required Qt version is delayed
important bugfixes or security issues

All deadlines are due midday UTC, but if you are a developer and need a few more hours (e.g. for an important bugfix), please notify someone from the release team.

Release mangler: Jonathan Riddell

Status

Plasma 6 is currently in active development for new and improved features as well as for bugfixes.

Release frequency and bugfix policy

Releases of new versions are planned every 4 months (3 times a year) initially. Once distros agree stability has been found we can move to 2 releases a year ^[1]

Normal releases will stop receiving bugfixes as soon as the following release is available. The exception to this rule are LTS releases:

LTS releases

No scheduled LTS releases yet. If distributions find LTS releases useful, we will schedule those in close cooperation with the corresponding distributions.

Release Cycle

Alpha: Repository freeze and soft feature freeze
The Thursday two weeks before the beta release date, there is a repository and soft feature freeze. This means, that the list of git repositories is fixed and major features are merged.
No new major features may be added without requesting an exception.
Additional release manager tasks:
- Start writing the Beta release announcement using this list of noteworthy changes.

Beta: hard feature freeze, soft UI and string freeze
This will usually happen on Thursday following the corresponding KDE Frameworks release (which is usually released on the second Saturday of a month).
No new features. No UI or string changes are allowed without requesting an exception.
Additional release manager tasks:
- Bump the milestone to the current version (i.e. the version that the beta leads up to) for bugfixes that failed to merge in time for the previous version
- Bump the milestone to the next Plasma release version for features that failed to merge in time for the current version (a link is in the future releases table).
- Go over all other milestoned merge requests for this version and determine if they qualify as bugfixes that can be merged. If so, add the "Cherry-Pick" label. If not, bump the milestone to the next version (a link is in the future releases table).

One week after the beta release, we'll try to host a beta test day where we encourage everyone to install and test the beta.

The to-be-released-version (6.X.0) will be tagged on Thursday three weeks after the Beta, and released on following Tuesday

Bugfix tags/releases are made on Tuesdays in a Fibonacci sequence of weeks (1, 1, 2, 3, 5)

Dependencies

Plasma Version	Qt Version	KDE Frameworks Version
6.0	6.6	6.0 - additionally Plasma 6.0 depends on Gear 24.02 for libkexiv2
6.1	6.6 (6.7 strongly recommended but was not available on the CI)	6.2

Future releases

The schedule is also available at:

Version	Type	Tar Date	Release Date
6.1.0	Release	Thu 2024-06-13	Tue 2024-06-18
6.1.1	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-06-25
6.1.2	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-07-02
6.1.3	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-07-16
6.1.4	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-08-06
6.1.5	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-09-10

History of releases

6.1 series
Version	Type	Release Date	Comments
6.0.80 (Plasma 6.1 Alpha)	Alpha	Tue 2024-05-09
6.0.90 (Plasma 6.1 Beta)	Beta	Tue 2024-05-24	Plasma/6.1 branched. List of features that failed to merge List of open merge requests

6.0 series
Version	Type	Release Date	Comments
5.80.0 (Plasma 6.0 Alpha)	Alpha	Wed 2023-11-08	Plasma Release Notes, Megarelease Announcement
5.90.0 (Plasma 6.0 Beta 1)	Beta	Wed 2023-11-29	Megarelease Announcement
5.91.0 (Plasma 6.0 Beta 2)	Beta	Wed 2023-12-20	Megarelease Announcement
5.92.0 (Plasma 6.0 Release Candidate 1)	Release Candidate	Wed 2024-01-10	Megarelease Announcement
5.93.0 (Plasma 6.0 Release Candidate 2)	Release Candidate	Wed 2024-01-31
6.0	Feature Release	Wed 2024-02-28	Public release of Plasma 6.0
6.0.1	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-03-05
6.0.2	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-03-12
6.0.3	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-03-26
6.0.4	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-04-16
6.0.5	Bugfix Release	Tue 2024-05-21

References

↑ Nate Graham, "Approved Plasma 6 proposal: change the release schedule".

[1] Nate Graham, "Approved Plasma 6 proposal: change the release schedule".

[1]

@@ Line 32: / Line 32: @@
 No scheduled LTS releases yet. If distributions find LTS releases useful, we will schedule those in close cooperation with the corresponding distributions.
-== Releases Cycle ==
+== Release Cycle ==
-* Repo and Soft Feature Freeze: On the Thursday two weeks before beta is repo and soft feature freeze. List of git repositories fixed and major features merged. No new features without [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception]. Start writing the Beta release announcement.
+<ol><li> Alpha: Repository freeze and soft feature freeze <br/>
-* Beta version, hard feature freeze, soft UI and string freeze: Thursday following the corresponding [[Schedules/Frameworks|KDE Frameworks]] release (which is usually released on the second Saturday of a month). No new features. No new UI and string changes [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception].
-* One week after beta release we'll try a beta test day where we encourage everyone to install and test the beta.
+The Thursday two weeks before the beta release date, there is a repository and soft feature freeze. This means, that the list of git repositories is fixed and major features are merged.<br/>
-* .0 tagged on Thursday three weeks after the Beta, released on following Tuesday
-* Bugfix tags/releases are made on Tuesdays in a Fibonacci sequence of weeks (1, 1, 2, 3, 5)
+No new major features may be added without [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception]. <br/>
+Additional release manager tasks: <br/><ul><li>Start writing the Beta release announcement using [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=merged&milestone_title=6.1&label_name%5B%5D=Noteworthy this list of noteworthy changes].</li></ul>
+</li><br/>
+<li>Beta: hard feature freeze, soft UI and string freeze<br/>
+This will usually happen on Thursday following the corresponding [[Schedules/Frameworks|KDE Frameworks]] release (which is usually released on the second Saturday of a month). <br/>
+No new features. No UI or string changes are allowed without [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception]. <br/>
+Additional release manager tasks: <ul><li>Bump the milestone to the current version (i.e. the version that the beta leads up to) for [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6 bugfixes that failed to merge in time for the previous version]</li><li>Bump the milestone to the next Plasma release version for features that failed to merge in time for the current version (a link is in the future releases table).</li><li>Go over all other milestoned merge requests for this version and determine if they qualify as bugfixes that can be merged. If so, add the "Cherry-Pick" label. If not, bump the milestone to the next version (a link is in the future releases table).</ul>
+</li><br/>
+<li> One week after the beta release, we'll try to host a beta test day where we encourage everyone to install and test the beta.</li><br/>
+<li> The to-be-released-version (6.X.0) will be tagged on Thursday three weeks after the Beta, and released on following Tuesday</li><br/>
+<li> Bugfix tags/releases are made on Tuesdays in a Fibonacci sequence of weeks (1, 1, 2, 3, 5)</li></ol>
 == Dependencies ==
@@ Line 68: / Line 80: @@
 ! Release Date
 ! Comments
-|-
-| --
-| --
-| Repo freeze and soft feature freeze
-!colspan='2' style="font-weight: normal; background: inherit"|Tue 2024-05-09
-| No new features or repos without [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception].<br/><br/>Additional release manager tasks: <ol><li>Start writing the Beta release announcement using [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=merged&milestone_title=6.1&label_name%5B%5D=Noteworthy this list of noteworthy changes].</li></ol>
-|-
-|[https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.0.90/ 6.0.90]
-|6.1.80
-|Beta, hard feature freeze, and soft UI and string freeze
-!colspan='2' style="font-weight: normal; background: inherit"|Tue 2024-05-23
-|No new features. No UI or string changes without [https://community.kde.org/Infrastructure/GitLab#Requesting_exceptions_to_feature_or_string_freezes requesting an exception]. Plasma/6.1 branched. Branching will be delayed by at least 1 day.<br/><br/>Additional release manager tasks: <ol><li>Bump the milestone to 6.1 for [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6 bugfixes that failed to merge in time for 6.0]</li><li>Bump the milestone to 6.2 for [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6.1&label_name%5B%5D=Feature features that failed to merge in time for 6.1].</li><li>Weep over lack of batch-change functionality for this.</li><li>Go over [https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6.1&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Feature&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Bugfix&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=%F0%9F%8D%92%20cherry-pick all other 6.1-milestoned merge requests] and determine if they qualify as bugfixes that can be merged for 6.1. If so, add the "Cherry-Pick" label. If not, bump the milestone to 6.2.</ol>
 |-
 |[https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.1.0/ 6.1.0]
@@ Line 119: / Line 119: @@
 == History of releases ==
+{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
+! colspan="4" | <span id="6_1"></span><strong>6.1 series</strong>
+|-
+! Version
+! Type
+! Release Date
+! Comments
+|-
+|6.0.80 (Plasma 6.1 Alpha)
+|Alpha
+|Tue 2024-05-09
+|
+|-
+|[https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/6/6.0.90/ 6.0.90] (Plasma 6.1 Beta)
+|Beta
+|Tue 2024-05-24
+|Plasma/6.1 branched.<br/>[https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6.1&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Feature&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Bugfix&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=%F0%9F%8D%92%20cherry-pick List of features that failed to merge] <br/>[https://invent.kde.org/groups/plasma/-/merge_requests?scope=all&state=opened&milestone_title=6.1&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Feature&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=Bugfix&not%5Blabel_name%5D%5B%5D=%F0%9F%8D%92%20cherry-pick List of open merge requests]
+|}
 {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible"
 ! colspan="4" | <span id="6_0"></span><strong>6.0 series</strong>