NixOS 24.05 — Release Schedule

[wegank]

Hi, we are Weijia Wang & Jörg Thalheim, the release managers for NixOS 24.05 ("Uakari").

We're also happy to work with Jacek Generowicz and Kirby Little, who will be the release editors for this NixOS release.

Below you can find the release calendar for the next two months running up to the planned release at the end of May 2024. If something feels unclear to you, don't hesitate to reach out, we are here to guide the process and make sure this will be a satisfying release for all of us.

Stay tuned for updates!

	Date	Affects	Events
✔️	2024-04-11	—	Start discussion about "Feature Freeze & Release Blockers" with ecosystem maintainers
✔️	2024-04-17	all branches	Restrict breaking changes to Release Critical Packages
✔️	2024-05-01	all branches	Restrict all breaking changes with the exception of desktop environments
✔️	2024-05-08	master	Wait for staging-next merge into master; begin first staging-next cycle
		master	Begin Zero Hydra Failures campaign
	2024-05-15	master	Wait for first staging-next merge into master; begin second staging-next cycle
		staging	Unrestrict all breaking changes; new changes will not be present in the release
	2024-05-22	master	Wait for second staging-next merge into master
		staging-next	Unrestrict all breaking changes; new changes will not be present in the release
		master	Mark failing packages as broken
		master, release-24.05	Branch-off
		master, release-24.05	Tag 24.05-beta on release-24.05 and 24.05-unstable on master
		master, release-24.05	Create release channels
		master, release-24.05	ZHF fixes go into master and need to be backported to release-24.05
		release-24.05	Prepare for release, finish remaining issues
	2024-05-31	release-24.05	Release! Also, ZHF ends
	2024-06-10	—	Release Retrospective, everyone is invited to give feedback!

---

Definitions

• Backport
  • Cherry-picking a change from master into release-24.05
  • Use the backport action by applying the backport: release-24.05 tag
• Breaking change
  • A change that is likely to break downstream consumers
• Ecosystem maintainers
  • Maintainer teams that have enabled enableFeatureFreezePing in maintainers/team-list.nix
• Release Critical Packages
  • List of packages that usually cause widespread breakages
• Restriction
  • Changes of the mentioned kind cannot be merged while the restriction is active
• ZHF
  • Zero Hydra Failures
  • Period in which contributors focus on stabilizing packages
  • Usually through PRs targeted at the master branch

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/lets-have-a-great-24-05-release-cycle/43564/1

[wegank]

April 17 ends AoE. Breaking changes to Release Critical Packages are now restricted.

[TravisWhitaker]

@jonringer was just banned for six weeks for vague reasons: NixOS/moderation@c0f7744

How is he supposed to be an RM if he was just banned?

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/why-was-jon-ringer-banned-from-github/44114/1

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/why-was-jon-ringer-banned-from-github/44114/14

[wegank]

How is he supposed to be an RM if he was just banned?

Indeed, he is no longer a release manager for this cycle, as he has lost access to the NixOS organization due to the ban.

@Mic92 is now a release manager for NixOS 24.05.

[KFearsoff]

Should we reconsider the schedule, or cancel the release altogether?

With the tensions running at an all-time high and people burning out to a crisp, I don't think missing a release is that big of a deal. I fear that if we put the people under additional stress of preparing a release, we'll cause burnout on an even more massive scale and do a lot of damage to the community that is already in a shaky place.

[wegank]

Should we reconsider the schedule, or cancel the release altogether?

NixOS 23.11 was only designed to be secure until its EOL on 30 Jun 2024, which isn't likely to change without a huge backport effort, so cancelling the release or delaying it too much is hardly an option.

I believe the schedule for the 24.05 cycle is in a good shape, mainly because we're lucky that the maintainers are leaving near the end of the feature freeze period and, more importantly, after they've finished their work on the subsystems (big thanks to all!). For the upcoming stabilization period, I'm explicitly asking everyone to take their time, since even if we don't have enough fixes, there is always the last resort of marking packages as broken.

That said, as a signatory to an open letter, as someone who pins Nix to 2.18 for this cycle, and probably as the second release manager for the 24.11 cycle, I feel helpless in the face of the current situation, even though I hope it will eventually be resolved.

[vcunat]

I don't think cancelling 24.05 would help, in the situation as I see it so far (though perhaps with a bit different arguments why). Though sure, I believe it's important to watch oneself for burnout.

Of course, regardless of the current situation, it can always happen that some (usually technical) issue is encountered, and it seems better to wait for fixing it instead of releasing half-broken. So sometimes NixOS had the release delayed by a week or two IIRC, not a big deal in my eyes.

[Mic92]

I was able to reach all subsystem maintainers except for Ocaml and Coq. So far no one is aware of major blockers. So I don't know why we should cancel the release. Backporting fixes to the old release would be more work for sure.

[wegank]

There's currently no blocker for OCaml and Coq, according to #307816 (comment).

Also, May 1 ends AoE. All breaking changes are now restricted, except for desktop environments.

[nixos-discourse]

This issue has been mentioned on NixOS Discourse. There might be relevant details there:

https://discourse.nixos.org/t/breaking-changes-announcement-for-unstable/17574/51