Iteration v8.0 (release plan)

[MichaIng]

Day 0: Init new development cycle

To be done until: 2021-12-13

• Create a new GitHub milestone https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/milestone/110
• Select issues for the new iteration in the new milestone
• Create a new section in the DietPi Wiki
• A new development cycle starts with a subversion increment, or major version increment when we drop support for an old Debian version or old DietPi versions. The RC version during the development cycle is "-1", to clearly identify unstable version strings: v7.9.3 => v8.0.-1.
• Init CHANGELOG.md
• Add support to DietPi-Survey_report

First week

To be done until: 2021-12-18

• Do a Twitter retweet (possible other platform) about the last release
• Make the iteration planning - a little list of important items that shall be addressed within this release and add them to the new GitHub milestone
• Add it to the DietPi Wiki
• Share this on Twitter, Forum, GitHub, Petreon, etc. to inform about the plans and allow any user to give some feedback on it.
• Share this on Facebook (DietPi group) to inform about the plans and allow any user to give some feedback on it.

NOTE: The below dates likely get deferred due to Christmas an new years holidays!

3rd week: Beta phase

To be done until: 2022-01-01

• Merge live patches from master and remove in dev.
• Create pull requests for all required documentation changes:

To be done at: 2022-01-01

• Launch the initial beta as .0 RC version
• Advertise on GitHub
• Advertise on DietPi Forum
• Advertise on DietPi-Banner MOTD

To be done at: 2022-01-02

• Advertise on website slider: https://dietpi.com/
• Advertise on Twitter (DietPi account)
• Advertise on Facebook (DietPi group)

To be done from: 2022-01-02 - 2021-01-06

• Address bug reports with further beta iterations, e.g. .1 and .2 RC versions

2 days before the release

To be done until: 2022-01-06

• Have a release PR open on the main repo which needs to be linked from the changelog/release notes.
• Assure that update server version and DietPi-Globals default version match.
• Have the docs release PR ready and reviewed, with release notes and required changes merged into dev already.
• Have a PR on the website ready to advertise the new release via website slide and have the docs PRs all ready and reviewed.

Release

To be done at: 2022-01-08

• Make the release
• Publish the release notes in DietPi Docs
• Mention the release notes in DietPi Forum
• Publish on website slider: https://dietpi.com/
• Update the MOTD
• Update software list in DietPi Wiki

Release announcements

To be done at: 2022-01-09

• Publish on Twitter (DietPi account)
• Publish on several Facebook groups (e.g. DietPi group)
• Announce on Hacker News
• Forge and spread a press release
• Determine if a hotfix release is needed
• Create a new release plan

[ravenclaw900]

Is it increasing to v8 instead of going through v7.10, or is there a big change that the major version is increasing for?

[MichaIng]

Yes the idea was to increment the major version whenever support for a Debian version is dropped, Stretch in this case. Also I couldn't resist as of the nice coincidence that 8.0 follows on 7.9 (no two digit minor version), v8.0 release on 08.01 (at least if that release date stays despite holidays) and a new major version on a new year. Feels fresh 😄.