mpv/DOCS/release-policy.md

Release Policy

Once or twice a year, a new release is cut off of the master branch and is assigned a 0.X.Y version number, where X is incremented each time a release contains breaking changes, such as changed options or added/removed features, and Y is incremented if a release contains only bugfixes and other minor changes.

Releases are tagged on the master branch and will not be maintained separately. Patch releases may be made if the amount or severity of bugs justify it, or in the event of security issues.

The goal of releases is to provide Linux distributions with something to package. If you want the newest features, just use the master branch. We try our best to keep it deployable at all times.

Releases other than the latest release are unsupported and unmaintained.

Release procedure

While on master:

• Update the RELEASE_NOTES file, replacing the previous release notes.

• Update the VERSION file.

• Update DOCS/client-api-changes.rst (in particular, update the last version number if necessary)

• Run TOOLS/gen-interface-changes.py to refresh DOCS/interface-changes.rst, edit manually as necessary.

• Delete all .txt files in the DOCS/interface-changes directory except for example.txt.

• Create signed commit with changes.

• Create signed tag v0.X.Y.

• Push release branch (release/0.X) and tag to GitHub.

• Create a new GitHub release using the content of RELEASE_NOTES related to the new version.

• Readd -UNKNOWN suffix to version in VERSION file.

If necessary (to e.g. exclude commits already on master), the release can be done on a branch with different commit history. The release branch must then be merged to master so git describe will pick up the tag.

This does not apply to patch releases, which are tagged directly on the release/0.X branch. The master branch always remains at v0.X.0.

Release notes template

Here is a template that can be used for writing the RELEASE_NOTES file:

Release 0.X.Y
=============

This release requires FFmpeg <ver> or newer.

Features
--------

New
~~~

- List of new features


Changed
~~~~~~~

- List of changed features


Removed
~~~~~~~

- List of removed features


Options and Commands
--------------------

Added
~~~~~

- List of added options and commands


Changed
~~~~~~~

- List of changed options and commands


Deprecated
~~~~~~~~~~

- List of deprecated options and commands


Removed
~~~~~~~

- List of removed options and commands


Fixes and Minor Enhancements
----------------------------

- List of fixes and minor enhancements


This listing is not complete. Check DOCS/client-api-changes.rst for a history
of changes to the client API, and DOCS/interface-changes.rst for a history
of changes to other user-visible interfaces.

A complete changelog can be seen by running `git log <start>..<end>`
in the git repository.

When creating a new point release its changes should be added on top of the RELEASE_NOTES file (with the appropriate title) so that all the changes in the current 0.X branch will be included. This way the RELEASE_NOTES file can be used by distributors as changelog for point releases too.

The changelog of lists all changes since the last release, including those that have been backported to patch releases already.

Some additional advice:

• Especially for features, try to reword the messages so that the user-visible change is clear to the reader. But don't simplify too much or be too verbose.
• It often makes sense to merge multiple related changes into one line
• Changes that have been made and reverted within the same release must not appear in the changelog
• Limit the "Options and Commands" section to relevant changes
• When filling in the GitHub release, remove the "Release 0.X.Y" heading