📣 Announcement: Patch and security release processes will be combined into a single planned release process 📣
What is changing?
Patch releases will now include both bug and security fixes, scheduled twice a month on Wednesdays around the monthly release week. Security Releases will be deprecated.
This simplifies the GitLab release model into two types:
-
Monthly release - 3rd Thursday of the month - A
major.minor
GitLab release including features and bug fixes. -
Patch release - 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month - A
major.minor.patch
release including bug and security fixes.
When is it changing?
During April 2024, patch releases and security releases will be combined into a single release scheduled twice a month on the second and fourth Wednesdays.
Schedule | Example for April |
---|---|
Second Wednesday of the month: Patch release | 2024-04-10 - Patch release 16.10, 16.9, and 16.8 |
Third Thursday of the month: Monthly release | 2024-04-18 - 16.11 Monthly release |
Fourth Wednesday of the month: Patch release | 2024-04-24 - Patch release 16.11, 16.10, and 16.9 |
The suggested Patch Release cadence is best-effort and might be subject to change.
Why is this changing?
Historically at GitLab, security releases have been scheduled once a month, with patch releases delivered in addition through the month as they become available. This has been a suboptimal experience for GitLab internal and external users, where the vast majority would prefer a more defined schedule and structure for these releases to make planning easier.
A regular patch release schedule provides predictability inside GitLab and therefore stability to GitLab customers.
How is this different from the former patch and security release processes?
This change is a release terminology update along with the establishment of the official patch release cadence. The Maintenance Policy and the engineering process to include bug and security fixes in a patch release stay the same.
FAQ
As a GitLab engineer/employee, how does this impact me?
The release adjustments are transparent for any GitLab user. If you're part of any department that works on GitLab.com and/or with any GitLab instance, please account for the new patch release schedule in your regular workflow.
Have GitLab customers been notified about this update?
Yes, a blog post summarizing the release updates has been published and it will be continuously broadcasted on the upcoming monthly and patch release blog posts.
Will patch releases be prepared outside of the planned cadence?
The scheduled for planned patch releases met the GitLab SLO/SLAs (Release, bug, and vulnerabilities). Unplanned patch releases outside of the cadence will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
Where can I see the dates of the upcoming patch releases?
Delivery is working to increase the visibility of all the release dates with a release dashboard &1124 (closed). In the meantime, the next available patch release date can be seen on the Tracking Issue. Patch Release dates are best effort and could be subject to change.
Where can I ask questions or provide feedback about this change?
Questions and/or feedback are welcome on this issue.