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` and `DOCS/interface-changes.rst`
  (in particular, update the last version numbers if necessary)

- 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.

Release notes template
----------------------

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

```markdown
Release 0.X.Y
=============

This release requires FFmpeg <ver> or newer.

Features
--------

New
~~~

- List of new features


Changed
~~~~~~~

- List of removed features


Removed
~~~~~~~~~~

- List of deprecated 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.
```

Note that the "Release 0.X.Y" title should be removed when creating a new GitHub
release.

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.
