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The '''release plan''' is the process by which a new version of [[FlightGear]] is released. The release plan is actually a continual work-in-progress, and is refined with every new release and how much available resource and interest there is.


This page contains details about how to release a new version of [[FlightGear]] into the wild. It is a continous work in progress to be improved with every new release.  
[[File:ReleasePlan.jpg|thumb|250px|The original release plan.]]
FlightGear has had multiple release plans over [[FlightGear History|history]].
* Originally, releases were sporadic, irregular and took many months of manual preparation.
* Subsequently a release plan was developed by Mathias Fröhlich, Martin Spott, Thorsten Brehm and Torsten Dreyer during [[LinuxTag]] 2011.
* A more regular plan was proposed by Torsten Dreyer after the 3.6 release was [[FlightGear Newsletter November 2015#FlightGear v3.6 canceled|cancelled]].
* Currently "Long Term Support" (LTS) releases are generated every ~24 months, with intermittent "preview" releases between them which receive less testing and support.


[[File:ReleasePlan.jpg|thumb|250px|The original plan]]
To suggest improvements and/or changes to the release plan, it is recommended to get in touch via the [[mailing list]]. Improvements can be based on the [[Release plan/Lessons learned|lessons learned]] from previous releases.  However, do not underestimate the amount of effort go create a new release!  Most of the burden falls on a few people.
This '''release plan''' was originally developed by Mathias Fröhlich, Martin Spott, Thorsten Brehm and Torsten Dreyer during LinuxTag 2011.


If you think you have something to contribute to the release process, feel free to <span class=plainlinks>[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit}} edit this page]</span>. In particular, improvements should be based on [[Release plan#Lessons learned]] from past releases. Please discuss this concept at the mailing-list.
== General release concept ==
At any given time there are two release "stream":
* A Long Term Support (LTS) release stream.  This is a stable release to which bug fixes are applied, and will be active for up to two years.  Most users and aircraft developers use this release.  Currently 2020.3.
* A "preview" release, based on the development branch "next". This is for those interested in the latest developments.  There is not currently a preview release.


=== General release concept ===
== Version numbers ==
New FlightGear releases are scheduled twice a year. The magic number to remember is 17 (we tried 42, but that didn't turn out so well. 17 is perfect: 1 is not a prime, 7 is a prime and so is 17). On the 17th of January (1) and July (7) a new release branch is created for [[SimGear]], FlightGear and FGDATA.
FlightGear version numbers consist of three digits, separated by dots:


After branching, there is one month for bug fixing in the release branch, so building and packing of the binaries and FGDATA takes place around February, 18th and August, 18th. Allowing a few days for distribution of the files, new versions should be publically available around the 20th of February and August.
* '''Year''' (<u>2020</u>.1.0): The year the version was released.
* '''Number''' (2020.<u>1</u>.0): Which release of the year the version is.  
* '''Revision''' (2020.1.<u>0</u>): The patch revision on that release.


The development stream of SimGear, FlightGear and FGDATA is set into a frozen state one month before the branch-day (17th), to let the dust of development settle and to allow fixing the most annoying bugs in the code. During this period, developers should not add any new features, subsystems, and the like. Immediately after the stream has branched for the release, development in the main stream (next/master) is open for major changes until one month before the next branch-day. This results in a duty cycle of 5 month developing and 1 month thinking.
{{note|In general, release are referred to by their first two digits (e.g., 2020.3). However, when filing a bug report or debugging problems, it is a good idea to give the full release number.}}


=== Version numbers ===
== Detailed time schedule and checklist ==
FlightGear version numbers exist of three digits, seperated by dots:
# Just after an LTS is generated, the next default airport is decided on by a poll on the forum. The next LTS release will be named after it.
* '''Major''' (<u>2</u>.4.1): is only increased after significant changes to the functionality of the software, i.e. 1.X.X => 2.0.0 (due to switch to OSG).
# A series of "preview" releases generated for cutting edge users. For each release:
* '''Minor''' (2.<u>4</u>.1): has two applications:
## A release branch is cut from "next". E.g. release/2021.1
** '''Stable releases''' always have ''even numbers'', i.e. 2.6.0, 2.8.0, 3.0.0.
## The version files are incremented.
** The '''development stream''' (''latest Git version'') uses an ''odd number'', increasing the minor number of the latest stable release's version by one. I.e., when the latest release is 2.8.0, the current development stream is 2.9.0.
## Builds are generated.
* '''Revision''' (2.4.<u>1</u>): is increased by bugfix releases, i.e. 2.8.1, 2.8.2, 2.8.3.
# When a new LTS preview is declared (after ~12 months):
## A release branch is cut from "next". E.g. release/2022.1
## The version files are incremented.
## Builds are generated for the preview LTS. Testing of aircraft against these releases is strongly encouraged.
## Additional branches are created for subsequent releases from the original release branch (e.g. release/2022.1 -> release/2022.2)
## Fixes are merged into the release branch as well as "next"
## Further builds and release are generated until an LTS is declared (e.g release/2022.3).
## fgaddon is branched and a new catalog generated.


=== Detailed time schedule and checklist ===
# '''Dec/Jun 17th:''' Development stream is declared "frozen" or "yellow"
##Send a mail to the flightgear-devel mailing-list to announce the state
##Create a "release preperations" topic at the forum and make it a "Global Announcement"
##Change the content of wiki template at [[Template:GitStatus]] to <code><nowiki>{{GitStatus:frozen}}</nowiki></code>
##Bump up the version-number of simgear/next, flightgear/next and fgdata/master to an even number (2.9.0 -> 3.0.0)
##modify options.cxx to bump the hard-coded base package version number in [http://gitorious.org/fg/flightgear/commit/bffb5589215182cb21ab2b2697ae7bf000db1412/diffs/ddc2a745c67d138b34e3d95948d341341c85965d]
##Compile and test drive FlightGear with the new version-number
##Commit the new version number to next (flightgear+simgear) and master(fgdata)
##Tag (annotated) flightgear, simgear and fgdata with <tt>version/3.0.0</tt>
##:''git tag -a version/3.0.0'' (Enter a wise comment)
##Push the branches next/master '''and''' the tags upstream
##:for flightgear and simgear: ''git push origin next''
##:for fgdata: ''git push origin master''
##:for the tags (all repos): ''git push origin version/3.0.0''
# '''Jan/Jul 17th:''' Create new release branch, assign new version number to dev-stream, re-open streams
<!-- We don't really need this step...
##Declare the streams "closed" or "red"
##:Send a mail to the flightgear-devel mail-list, asking not to commit/push anything
##:Post an update to the forum topic
##:Change the content of wiki template at [[Template:GitStatus]] to <code><nowiki>{{GitStatus:closed}}</nowiki></code>
-->
##Pull current Git, create the release branches (for sg/fg/fgdata):
##:''git pull
##:''git branch release/3.0.0
##On the next/master branches, bump up the version-number of simgear, flightgear and fgdata to an odd number (3.0.0 -> 3.1.0)
##Compile and test drive FlightGear with the new development version number
##Commit the changes of version-number to next/master
##Tag (annotated) flightgear, simgear and fgdata with "version/2.9.0"
##:''git tag -a version/2.9.0'' (Enter a wise comment)
##Push the branches next/master '''and''' release/3.0.0 '''and''' the tags upstream
##:for flightgear, simgear and fgdata: ''git push origin release/3.0.0''
##:for flightgear and simgear: ''git push origin next''
##:for fgdata: ''git push origin master''
##:for the tags (all repos): ''git push origin version/3.1.0''
##Declare dev-streams "open" or "green"
##: Ask a wiki admin to change the content of wiki template at [[Template:GitStatus]] to <code><nowiki>{{GitStatus:open}}</nowiki></code>
##:Send a mail to the flightgear-devel mailing-list to announce the state.
## Trigger James for the Jenkins-builds and Curt for a snapshot release and ThorstenB for the OpenSuse build
# '''Feb/Aug 1st:''' Start preparing the release notes and a press announcement
# '''Feb/Aug 17th:''' Create binaries/installers, pack fgdata, publish files, announce new version, close the release-branch.
## Generate latest '''getstart.pdf''', push the PDF to fgdata/master - and cherry-pick to the '''release branch'''. Generate latest '''getstart''' HTML, push PDF and HTML to the MapServer site.
##Tag the release/3.00 branches of simgear, flightgear and fgdata and push the tags.
##:for flighgear, simgear and fgdata: ''git tag version/3.0.0-final''
##:for flighgear, simgear and fgdata: ''git push origin version/3.0.0-final''
##Merge the branch release/3.0.0 into '''master''' (<u>'''NOT'''</u> next) for flightgear and simgear and push the branch
##:We don't have a next branch for fgdata, no merging of the release branch here.
##:for flighgear and simgear:
##:''git checkout -b master origin/master'' or ''git checkout master'' if you already have the local branch
##:''git merge version/3.0.0-final
##:''git push origin master''


=== To bump up the version number ===
== Version files ==
* fgdata
; FGData: {{fgdata file|version}}
** edit the ''version'' file
; SimGear: {{simgear file|simgear-version}}
* SimGear
; FlightGear: {{flightgear file|flightgear-version}}
** edit the ''version'' file
<!--
* FlightGear
== Bug fix committing policy ==
** edit the ''version'' file
Fixes for bugs during the preview release are applied to both "next" and the release branch (e.g. release/2022.2)


=== Definition of repository states ===
'''DO NOT''' merge next into release/2.8.0 or vice versa. Most likely, there will be commits that are not welcome in or even break the other branch.
{| class="wikitable"
-->
!
! State
! Description
|-
! [[File:Traffic light green.png|20px]]
! Open/Green
| Normal development of the code base and fgdata. Unrestricted (well, sort of) access to the streams. This state lasts for five month after the release branches were created.
|-
! [[File:Traffic light yellow.png|20px]]
! Frozen/Yellow
| No new features or major changes shall be pushed onto the development streams (neither source nor data). This period is for preparing the code for the release and make sure there are no major issues. It lasts for four weeks until creation of the release branches.


It's a good idea for aircraft developers to adhere to this rule. However, aircraft in fgdata may be handled as an exception from the frozen state. Any change to aircraft may be pushed to the repository if it is guaranteed that this change does not affect any other aircraft or system and if no file outside the root directory of that specific aircraft is changed. Also, aircraft defined as part of the base package (e.g. the c172p) enter the frozen state and shall not undergo major changes in that period.
== Bug tracking ==
|-
The [http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/codetickets/ bugtracker] is the primary source of bug reports. Unlike the forum or mailing list, bugs reported there will be tracked, making it easier for developers to keep up with them. When reporting bugs, it is best to provide as much information as possible to more easily find the bug. If you can provide a backtrace, please do so and attach it to the bug report. When creating backtraces, please use "thread apply all bt full" at the gdb command prompt.
! [[File:Traffic light red.png|20px]]
! Closed/Red
| Nothing shall be pushed to the development streams (simgear, flightgear and fgdata). This state is for creating the release branches. It lasts for just a few hours on Jan 17th and Jul 17th around 12:00 UTC.
|}


=== Bug fix committing policy ===
<!--
Fixes for bugs during the shakedown test of the release branch may be applied to the branches next or release/2.8.0.
=== Tasks and owners ===
A fix goes into release/2.8.0 if the development of next has moved forward and this fix does not apply there. It also goes into the release branch if there will be a better fix for next.
A fix goes into next if it is also solves an issue for the next version. Cherry-pick this commit into the release/2.8.0 branch.


'''DO NOT''' merge next into release/2.8.0 or vice versa. Most likely, there will be commits that are not welcome in or even break the other branch.
The following table should be updated and augmented after each release, according to the [[Release plan#Lessons learned|Lessons learned]] section below.


=== Bug tracking ===
{| class="wikitable"
The [http://flightgear-bugs.googlecode.com bugtracker] will be our primary source for the bug fixing period. Bugs reported on the mailing list or forum will not be tracked! Reporters shall be requested to file a bug report at the bugtracker. Bugs shall be assigned a priority and a keyword to make the assignment to a developer easier. Bug reports that can't be confirmed or need more input from the reporter to get fixed will be assigned a new state "stalled" and only processed after more information has been provided. Bugs assigned a high priority will be downgraded, if no progress has been made over a certain amount of time. This is to prevent the release from being blocked by a bug that no developer is able (or willing) to fix. The only exception is "does not compile for one of the major platforms", which certainly is a release-blocker.
! Stage
 
Bugs that were present in the latest stable release, and now considered "fixed", should be assigned a milestone label, corresponding with the upcoming stable release number. By doing so, they'll end up in [http://code.google.com/p/flightgear-bugs/issues/list?can=1&q=label%3AMilestone-2.8.0 the list of fixed bugs].
 
=== Tasks and owners ===
{|class="wikitable"
!
! width="500px" | Task
! width="500px" | Task
! Owner(s)
! Owner(s)
|-
|-
! rowspan="6" |  
! rowspan="7" | Preparation
| Announce the state-change of the dev-streams
| Announce the state-change of the dev-streams, '''cross-post to JSBSim list''' (see lessons learned!)
| TorstenD
| TorstenD
|-
|-
Line 131: Line 78:
| Track the bugs on the tracker, trigger developers, adjust bug-priorities
| Track the bugs on the tracker, trigger developers, adjust bug-priorities
| ThorstenB, Gijs, James, ...
| ThorstenB, Gijs, James, ...
|-
| Sync the language files so they can be translated
| ThorstenB, James
|-
|-
| Beta testing  
| Beta testing  
Line 138: Line 88:
| Stuart, Gijs and anyone else
| Stuart, Gijs and anyone else
|-
|-
| Pack RC and final version of FGDATA
| Pack RC and final version of fgdata
|
|
|-
|-
Line 152: Line 102:
|-
|-
| MacOS
| MacOS
| Tat
| Tat/James
|-
|-
| Distribute files to download servers
| Distribute files to download servers
| Curt
| Curt
|-
|-
! rowspan="2" | Make adjustments on the web-site
! rowspan="3" | Make adjustments on the web-site
| Collect/make screenshots for the gallery  
| Collect/make screenshots for the gallery  
| Curt
| Curt
Line 163: Line 113:
| Generate aircraft page
| Generate aircraft page
| Curt, Gijs
| Curt, Gijs
|-
| Tag the [http://wiki.flightgear.org/index.php?title=Talk:Next_newsletter&action=edit&section=45 newsletter template] according to the released version
<nowiki>[[Category:Changes after 2.12]]</nowiki>
| Hooray, Gijs, Stuart (other wiki admins)
|-
|-
! rowspan="2" | Announce the new version to the public
! rowspan="2" | Announce the new version to the public
| Write a changelog: [[Changelog 3.0.0]]
| Write a changelog: [[Next changelog]]
| All developers
| All developers/contributors
|-
|-
| Contact flightsim websites and send them/link them to the "press announcement". See [[release promotion]] for a list of already-contacted and yet-to-contact websites/magazins.
| Contact flightsim websites and send them/link them to the "press announcement". See [[release promotion]] for a list of already-contacted and yet-to-contact websites/magazines.
| '''EVERYBODY'''
| '''EVERYBODY'''
|}
|}


=== Open items, questions ===
== Open items, questions ==
* Automate the creation of Windows and Mac installers
* Automate and/or document the creation of RC's: "We need to get this automated some day. Or at least documented...(another one from "famous last words": if you have to do it more than once, automate it. If you can't automate it, document it."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg39205.html |title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] Release candidates</nowiki> |author=Torsten Dreyer |date=29 January 2013}}</ref>
* Automate the creation of FGDATA distribution
* Automate the creation of fgdata distribution
* Possibly try to find a way to automate testing of updated jsbsim code, so that the chance for breakage is reduced by running scripted tests <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg39109.html |title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] [Jsbsim-devel] JSBSim Synch with FlightGear</nowiki> |author=Torsten Dreyer |date=13 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg40201.html |title=<nowiki>Re: [Flightgear-devel] JSBSim Synch with FlightGear</nowiki> |author=Anders Gidenstam |date=11 June 2013}}</ref><ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/31762085/
|title=<nowiki>Release preparations - feature freeze starts today</nowiki> |author=Anders Gidenstam |date=2013-12-17 19:46:48}}
</ref>
 
-->


=== Lessons learned ===
== Lessons learned ==
This is a list of lessons learned from the previous releases, things that turned out well and should be kept for the next release as well as thing that didn't turn out so well and should be changed for future releases.
See [[Release plan/Lessons learned]] for a list of things that turned out well and should be kept for the next release as well as thing that didn't turn out so well and should be changed for future releases. Ideally, the release plan should be updated and augmented so that the lessons learned are incorporated accordingly.
<!-- {{Appendix}} -->


==== 3.0 ====
== Wiki articles that should be updated ==
(not yet released)


==== 2.8 ====
See [[:Category:Articles to be updated for each release]]
* {{Thumbs down}} Lack of stress-testing: A number of users reported severe memory growth issues (with fgfs consuming as much as 14gb of RAM), many directly related to new features, such as random buildings: [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=16758&p=160765&hilit=vegetation#p160747] [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=17249] [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=17114&start=15#p163829] [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg38007.html] These could have probably been identified earlier by running FG for extended periods of time, and testing the shipped aircraft with the default KSFO scenery, and new features such as random buildings enabled.
* {{Thumbs down}} Lack of graceful feature scaling: Several users with old graphics cards reported not being able to run FG 2.8 without crashing during startup, because the FG defaults didn't scale for old hardware [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=17308]
* {{Thumbs down}} According to noaa.gov it seems that the NOAA metar source got phased out in 04/2012 and moved to a new URL[http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/coded.html], some users reported issues related to this[http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=17457&p=165784&hilit=metar#p165784]. However, the metar URL is currently hard-coded in the fgfs/metar source code - in addition, the default format is no longer a plain text dump [http://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/metars/]. It would make sense to make the URL a string property that can be put into preferences.xml and then use a Nasal listener to parse the resulting XML/HTML and set a plain text property instead, that can be processed by the existing metar code.
* {{Thumbs down}} [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg38113.html Broken OSX downloads]
* {{Thumbs down}} [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=21&p=165841#p165841 the OSX 10.8 release and code signing caused some irritation]
* {{Thumbs down}} [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=14883&start=330#p166062 After the 2.8 release a number of users on the forums reported seeing GLSL related errors, because some of the 2.8 shaders used GLSL features only supported by more recent GLSL compilers/drivers - it would probably make sense to test all shader settings on all 3 platforms and check if they cause any errors (and "backport" shaders as necessary). Apple/Mac OSX seems to be more problematic]
* {{Thumbs down}} [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg38121.html Microsoft Redistributables were apparently not shipped with the Windows installer ?]
* {{Thumbs down}} [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg38089.html The changelog should be written as early as possible]
* The code freeze could probably be lifted for patches that are not normally enabled/used by any default code paths (or shipped aircraft) in a FlightGear release. This probably involves Nasal extension functions, fgcommands, telnet commands, but also custom hard coded instruments or instrumentation-related APIs (think Canvas). Basically, whenever there's no chance to break a release by committing a certain patch, because the code path will not be executed by default without explicitly enabling it. For 2.8, this also meant that the Nasal [[Canvas]] API could not be included due to the code freeze, which however wasn't used by any systems or aircraft - so that there would have been zero chance for breakage [http://www.mail-archive.com/flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net/msg37622.html] [http://flightgear.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=17397#p165413].
* The wiki contains a number of resources to help new users with hardware decisions, such as [[Hardware Recommendations]] [[Notebooks known to run FlightGear]] and [[Supported Video Cards]] - these should probably be updated for each release several weeks in advance.


==== 2.6 ====
== Related content ==
* {{Thumbs up}} feature freeze in general
=== Mailing lists ===
*: helped a lot during release management. Kept the commit traffic low and thus helped identifying those commits required to pick into the release.
* {{cite web
* {{Thumbs down}} feature freeze for aircraft
|url = http://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/34701971/
*: Technically, a feature freeze for aircraft is not necessary as long as this aircraft is not part of the base distribution and no common parts are affected. If it's guaranteed that the changes remain in FGDATA/Aircraft/MyAircraft and no other files are touched, these updates should be OK up to shortly before the release.
|title = <nowiki>[Flightgear-devel] Release 3.8</nowiki>
* {{Thumbs down}} switching to a new version of supporting libraries like OSG.
|author = Torsten Dreyer
*: The move to OSG 3.x introduced some major issues. If at all possible, switch to a new library early in the development cycle.
|date = Dec 17th, 2015
* {{Thumbs down}} manual creation of release candidates and the release binaries
}}
*: It's preferable to have equal numbers for release candidates for all O/S and probably a git-tag for each candidate.
* {{Thumbs down}} release date/time frame
*: It took several days to release all the subparts. Might be better to upload all files and pages to hidden folders and publish them all at once (or at least within a couple of hours). That'll have several advantages:
*:* no big difference between releases for the various OS.
*:* the website will switch to the new release state quickly. With 2.6.0, the aircraft page was published before the setup. The release announcement was published even later.


[[Category:Core developer documentation]]
[[Category:Core developer documentation]]
[[Category:FlightGear]]
[[Category:FlightGear]]
[[Category:Release plans]]

Latest revision as of 18:29, 8 December 2022

Current release: 2020.3.19 (18 Oct 2023)
Next release: 2020.3.20
See release plan for details.
This article or section contains out-of-date information

Please help improve this article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page.

The release plan is the process by which a new version of FlightGear is released. The release plan is actually a continual work-in-progress, and is refined with every new release and how much available resource and interest there is.

The original release plan.

FlightGear has had multiple release plans over history.

  • Originally, releases were sporadic, irregular and took many months of manual preparation.
  • Subsequently a release plan was developed by Mathias Fröhlich, Martin Spott, Thorsten Brehm and Torsten Dreyer during LinuxTag 2011.
  • A more regular plan was proposed by Torsten Dreyer after the 3.6 release was cancelled.
  • Currently "Long Term Support" (LTS) releases are generated every ~24 months, with intermittent "preview" releases between them which receive less testing and support.

To suggest improvements and/or changes to the release plan, it is recommended to get in touch via the mailing list. Improvements can be based on the lessons learned from previous releases. However, do not underestimate the amount of effort go create a new release! Most of the burden falls on a few people.

General release concept

At any given time there are two release "stream":

  • A Long Term Support (LTS) release stream. This is a stable release to which bug fixes are applied, and will be active for up to two years. Most users and aircraft developers use this release. Currently 2020.3.
  • A "preview" release, based on the development branch "next". This is for those interested in the latest developments. There is not currently a preview release.

Version numbers

FlightGear version numbers consist of three digits, separated by dots:

  • Year (2020.1.0): The year the version was released.
  • Number (2020.1.0): Which release of the year the version is.
  • Revision (2020.1.0): The patch revision on that release.
Note  In general, release are referred to by their first two digits (e.g., 2020.3). However, when filing a bug report or debugging problems, it is a good idea to give the full release number.

Detailed time schedule and checklist

  1. Just after an LTS is generated, the next default airport is decided on by a poll on the forum. The next LTS release will be named after it.
  2. A series of "preview" releases generated for cutting edge users. For each release:
    1. A release branch is cut from "next". E.g. release/2021.1
    2. The version files are incremented.
    3. Builds are generated.
  3. When a new LTS preview is declared (after ~12 months):
    1. A release branch is cut from "next". E.g. release/2022.1
    2. The version files are incremented.
    3. Builds are generated for the preview LTS. Testing of aircraft against these releases is strongly encouraged.
    4. Additional branches are created for subsequent releases from the original release branch (e.g. release/2022.1 -> release/2022.2)
    5. Fixes are merged into the release branch as well as "next"
    6. Further builds and release are generated until an LTS is declared (e.g release/2022.3).
    7. fgaddon is branched and a new catalog generated.


Version files

FGData
fgdata/version
SimGear
simgear/simgear-version
FlightGear
flightgear/flightgear-version

Bug tracking

The bugtracker is the primary source of bug reports. Unlike the forum or mailing list, bugs reported there will be tracked, making it easier for developers to keep up with them. When reporting bugs, it is best to provide as much information as possible to more easily find the bug. If you can provide a backtrace, please do so and attach it to the bug report. When creating backtraces, please use "thread apply all bt full" at the gdb command prompt.


Lessons learned

See Release plan/Lessons learned for a list of things that turned out well and should be kept for the next release as well as thing that didn't turn out so well and should be changed for future releases. Ideally, the release plan should be updated and augmented so that the lessons learned are incorporated accordingly.

Wiki articles that should be updated

See Category:Articles to be updated for each release

Related content

Mailing lists