1.. _stable-process: 2 3QEMU and the stable process 4=========================== 5 6QEMU stable releases 7-------------------- 8 9QEMU stable releases are based upon the last released QEMU version 10and marked by an additional version number, e.g. 2.10.1. Occasionally, 11a four-number version is released, if a single urgent fix needs to go 12on top. 13 14Usually, stable releases are only provided for the last major QEMU 15release. For example, when QEMU 2.11.0 is released, 2.11.x or 2.11.x.y 16stable releases are produced only until QEMU 2.12.0 is released, at 17which point the stable process moves to producing 2.12.x/2.12.x.y releases. 18 19What should go into a stable release? 20------------------------------------- 21 22Generally, the following patches are considered stable material: 23 24* Patches that fix severe issues, like fixes for CVEs 25 26* Patches that fix regressions 27 28If you think the patch would be important for users of the current release 29(or for a distribution picking fixes), it is usually a good candidate 30for stable. 31 32 33How to get a patch into QEMU stable 34----------------------------------- 35 36There are various ways to get a patch into stable: 37 38* Preferred: Make sure that the stable maintainers are on copy when you send 39 the patch by adding 40 41 .. code:: 42 43 Cc: qemu-stable@nongnu.org 44 45 to the patch description. By default, this will send a copy of the patch 46 to ``qemu-stable@nongnu.org`` if you use git send-email, which is where 47 patches that are stable candidates are tracked by the maintainers. 48 49* You can also reply to a patch and put ``qemu-stable@nongnu.org`` on copy 50 directly in your mail client if you think a previously submitted patch 51 should be considered for a stable release. 52 53* If a maintainer judges the patch appropriate for stable later on (or you 54 notify them), they will add the same line to the patch, meaning that 55 the stable maintainers will be on copy on the maintainer's pull request. 56 57* If you judge an already merged patch suitable for stable, send a mail 58 (preferably as a reply to the most recent patch submission) to 59 ``qemu-stable@nongnu.org`` along with ``qemu-devel@nongnu.org`` and 60 appropriate other people (like the patch author or the relevant maintainer) 61 on copy. 62 63Stable release process 64---------------------- 65 66When the stable maintainers prepare a new stable release, they will prepare 67a git branch with a release candidate and send the patches out to 68``qemu-devel@nongnu.org`` for review. If any of your patches are included, 69please verify that they look fine, especially if the maintainer had to tweak 70the patch as part of back-porting things across branches. You may also 71nominate other patches that you think are suitable for inclusion. After 72review is complete (may involve more release candidates), a new stable release 73is made available. 74