[Bf-committers] Long Term Support and implications

[Nathan 'jesterKing' Letwory]

Hey all,

I wrote over on devtalk a bit on this topic [1]. Before I
quickly summarize (copy&paste) the main points I'd
like to ask any discussion on the topic be done in one
place, on the topic thread.

With the LTS idea there are several things we have to
keep in mind as it will impact the way we work in
making Blender the best it can be.

  * A new LTS release each May, good for 2 years
  * In August 2021 we’ll be running no less than 3 concurrent
    releases (2.83 LTS, 2.93 LTS, 3.0 non-LTS)
  * API needs to stay unbroken for 2 years in an LTS release
  * Triaging and bugfixing will need to be done against all current
    releases (in 2021 that’d be 2.83 LTS, 2.93 LTS, 3.0 non-LTS)
  * Documentation needs to be properly branched, managed and
    maintained with the three concurrent releases in mind
  * Find good release cadence for patch releases (maybe once a
    month to keep big pile-up from happening).

Cheers,

/Nathan Letwory

[1] https://devtalk.blender.org/t/long-term-support-and-its-implications/12525