JDK11/8 Updates: process, schedules and tagging

[Andrew John Hughes]

On 16/05/2019 10:57, Langer, Christoph wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>  
> 
> after we had the discussion about the OpenJDK 8/11 release process and
> schedule [0], I’d like to explicitly spell out the current status and
> update the Wiki pages.
> 
>  
> 
> It seems like we have agreed to a 3 phase model
> 
>  
> 
> 1. Development
> 
> 2. Rampdown (RDP2)
> 
> 3. Freeze
> 
>  
> 
> I’ve updated the timelines on the Wiki pages [1], [2] now accordingly.
> Please check/review.
> 

Thanks. I'll review the 8u page and check it matches the process I'm
following.

I do think "RDP2" should be avoided as there is no "RDP1".

>  
> 
> I would short-summarize our process like this:
> 
> During development phase, changes go into the development repositories
> (jdk8u-dev/jdk11u-dev) and weekly tagging will be done in there. When
> the release repositories (jdk8u/jdk11u) aren’t blocked by
> rampdown/freeze of the previous release, the tags will be synced on a
> weekly basis to the release repositories. When rampdown of a release
> starts, merges from dev to release repositories are suspended and RDP2
> approved changes have to be pushed to the release repositories. From
> that time merges happen from release->dev. After the freeze tag, no
> changes must go into the release repository while the CPU is assembled
> non publicly. After release, the CPU is merged back to the open
> repositories.

Yes:

Dev phase: dev tagged, dev->master
Rampdown phase: master tagged, master->dev
Freeze phase: no changes to master
Release: CPU changes pushed to master, master->dev

> 
>  
> 
> Is that our common understanding? If I get no objections, I’ll update
> the process description pages [3] and [4] accordingly.
> 
>  
> 
> I furthermore have 2 questions / things to clarify.
> 
>  
> 
> a) Will we tag in the dev-repositories right from the start? E.g. will
> we start tagging 11.0.5 right after the 11.0.4 RDP2 integration from
> 11u-dev to 11u in the week after May 28?
> 
>     - I would suggest to do so.

We do tag that point as -b00, I believe.

If you mean do we start weekly tags of release x+1 in dev once release x
is in rampdown, then no, I don't plan to for 8u. If you have the cycles
to do so for 11, you can, but I need that time - particularly the freeze
period - to prepare, build and test the imminent releases.

Also, I don't really see the point when there is nowhere to promote the
build to, as master is still on release x.

That does mean that b01 will run over a longer period than other tags,
but I don't see that as a particular problem.

> 
> b) Will we also do a weekly tag when no changes happened after the
> previous tag? This should probably be a rare case given the current
> activities but we should have a guideline for that.
> 
>     - My feeling would be to skip the tag then. I can’t see any value in
> this.
> 

I agree with skipping such empty tags, with an appropriate list
announcement.

I think the predictability argument is already lost in the final stages
where we may have to add multiple tags in secret during the addition of
the security patches. On the other hand, tagging periods with no changes
introduces the possibility of a lot of needless work testing unchanged
sources.

I think it's easier to convey the message that a tag is being skipped -
which someone who notices the lack of a new tag may look for - than it
is to tag and have unknown users downstream building and testing
something with no changes.

The problem with comparing with Oracle processes is that their process
is largely internal and so there are not the same potential
communication issues.

I think this is unlikely during the development stage, but more likely
during the rampdown if nothing is critical enough to be included in the
imminent release.

My answer to both questions is concerned more with the reality of the
workload involved than pointlessly sticking to an agreed protocol, when
our limited resources could be better utilised.

>  
> 
> May I please have your feedback on that (especially from the Andrews ��)
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Christoph
> 
>  
> 
> [0]
> https://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/jdk-updates-dev/2019-April/000996.html
> 
> [1] https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/JDKUpdates/JDK11u
> 
> [2] https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/jdk8u/Main
> 
> [3]
> https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/JDKUpdates/Detailed+Process+Description
> 
> 
> [4] https://wiki.openjdk.java.net/display/jdk8u/Detailed+Process+Description
> 
>  
> 

Thanks,
-- 
Andrew :)

Senior Free Java Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc. (http://www.redhat.com)

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