Release Cycles

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Release cycles

The time for a new version of OpenMW to be released may vary depending on the progress made since the last release. This document explains the workflow used to manage OpenMW versions. The word "issue" is used in the meaning of bugtracker issue (which is basically a task needing to be done to improve the engine — bug fix, new feature and so on). You can see the repartition of the issues planned for the different OpenMW versions on the roadmap.

Normal development

The tasks on the roadmap are grouped by OpenMW versions. During normal development, they are two versions on the roadmap:

  • openmw-VERSION (VERSION is the version number of the upcoming release, following the last release's one)
These are short term issues planned for the next version of OpenMW.
  • openmw-future
These are long term issues placed here because they depend on other major issues being done before, because they involve big changes in the engine architecture or because of another (good) reason. They are displaced when they become feasible.

During this time, developers make pull requests on the master branch of the main repository (if you are not familiar with pull requests, see the help at GitHub).

Pre-release period

When the number of resolved features added and bugs fixed is important enough, the next OpenMW version enters in Release Candidate (RC). On the roadmap, an amount of issues is moved under a new OpenMW version.

Then the roadmap shows issues for three versions: openmw-VERSION and openmw-future as before, plus the new one:

  • openmw-VERSION (VERSION is the version number of the upcoming release, following the last release's one)
During pre-release period, this category contains mostly closed issues, plus those in progress. No new issues are added unless the fix a major bug or a regression, and definitively no new features.
  • openmw-NEXT_VERSION (NEXT_VERSION is the version number following the upcoming release's one)
The remaining issues that belonged to openmw-VERSION but have lesser priority are moved here. Some issues can come from openmw-future too.

During pre-release period, the branch the developers make pull requests on depends of the roadmap. Only changes for issues under openmw-VERSION deserve a pull-request targeting the master branch. All other changes are merged to the next branch of the main repository.

Post-release period

The new version is released some time after all its issues on the roadmap are closed.

After the release, the corresponding category is removed from the roadmap. The next branch is merged into master and we come back to normal development.