mirror of
https://libwebsockets.org/repo/libwebsockets
synced 2024-12-04 13:57:15 +00:00
127 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
127 lines
5.7 KiB
Markdown
# lws release policy
|
|
|
|
## How should users consume lws?
|
|
|
|
The one definitively wrong way to consume lws (or anything else) is "import" some
|
|
version of it into your proprietary tree and think you will stick with that
|
|
forever, perhaps piling cryptic fixes or hacks on top until quite quickly,
|
|
nobody dare think about updating it.
|
|
|
|
The stable releases go on to a branch like v4.0-stable as described below, over
|
|
time these attract dozens or even hundreds of minor or major fix patches
|
|
backported from the development branch. So you should not consume tags like
|
|
v4.0.0 but build into your planning that you will need to follow v4.0-stable in
|
|
order to stay on top of known bugs.
|
|
|
|
And we only backport fixes to the last stable release, although we will make
|
|
exceptions for important fixes. So after a while, trying to stick with one
|
|
old versions means nobody is providing security fixes on it any more. So you
|
|
should build into your planning that you will follow lws release upgrades.
|
|
|
|
If you find problems and create fixes, please upstream them, simplifying your
|
|
life so you can just directly consume the upstream tree with no private changes.
|
|
|
|
## Development
|
|
|
|
Master branch is the default and all new work happens there. It's unstable and
|
|
subject to history rewrites, patches moving about and being squashed etc. In
|
|
terms of it working, it is subject to passing CI tests including a battery of
|
|
runtime tests, so if it is passing CI as it usually is then it's probably in
|
|
usable shape. See "Why no history on development" below for why it's managed like
|
|
that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If you have patches (you are a hero) they should be targeted at `main`.
|
|
|
|
To follow such a branch, `git pull` is the wrong tool... the starting point
|
|
of what you currently have may no longer exist remotely due to rearranging the
|
|
patches there. Instead use a flow like this:
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
$ git fetch https://libwebsockets.org/repo/libwebsockets +main:m && git reset --hard m
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This fetches current remote development branch into local branch `m`, and then forces your
|
|
local checkout to exactly match `m`. This replaces your checked-out tree
|
|
including any of your local changes, so stash those first, or use stgit or so
|
|
to pop them before updating your basis against lws development.
|
|
|
|
## Stable branches
|
|
|
|
Master is very useful for coordinating development, and integrating WIP,
|
|
but for distros or integration into large user projects some stability is often
|
|
more desirable than the latest development work.
|
|
|
|
Periodically, when development seems in good shape and various new developments seem
|
|
to be working, it's copied out into a versioned stable branch, like `v4.0-stable`.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The initial copy is tagged with, eg, `v4.0.0`.
|
|
|
|
(At that time, development's logical version is set to "...99", eg, `v4.0.99` so
|
|
version comparisons show that development version is "later" than any other
|
|
v4.0 version, which will never reach 99 point releases itself, but "earlier"
|
|
than, eg, v4.1.)
|
|
|
|
## Backport policy
|
|
|
|
Development continues, and as part of that usually bugs are reported and / or
|
|
fixes found that may apply not just to current development, but the version of
|
|
the development branch that was copied to form the last -stable branch.
|
|
|
|
In that case, the patch may be backported to the last stable branch to also fix
|
|
the bug there. In the case of refactors or major internal improvements, these
|
|
typically do not get backported.
|
|
|
|
This applies only to fixes and public API-neutral internal changes to lws... if
|
|
new features were backported or API changes allowed, then there would be
|
|
multiple apis under the same version name and library soname, which is
|
|
madness.
|
|
|
|
When new stable releases are made, the soname is bumped reflecting the API is
|
|
different than that of previous versions.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If there is something you need in a later lws version that is not backported,
|
|
you need to either backport it yourself or use a later lws version.
|
|
Using a more recent version of lws (and contributing fixes and changes so you
|
|
yourself can get them easily as well as contributing for others) is almost
|
|
always the correct way.
|
|
|
|
## Stable point releases
|
|
|
|
Periodically fix patches pile up on the -stable branch and are tagged out as
|
|
"point releases". So if the original stable release was "v3.0.0", the point
|
|
release may be "v3.0.1".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Critical fixes
|
|
|
|
Sometimes a bug is found and fixed that had been hiding for a few versions.
|
|
If the bug has some security dimension or is otherwise important, we may
|
|
backport it to a few recent releases, not just the last one. This is pretty
|
|
uncommon though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Why no history on the development branch
|
|
|
|
Git is a wonderful tool that can be understood to have two main modes of operation,
|
|
merge and rebase that are mutually exclusive. Most devs only use merge / pull,
|
|
but rebase / fetch is much more flexible. Developing via rebases allows me to
|
|
dispense with feature branches during development and enables tracking multiple
|
|
in-progress patches in-tree by updating them in place. If this doesn't make
|
|
sense or seems heretical to you, it's OK I don't need devsplain'ing about it,
|
|
just sit back and enjoy the clean, rapid development results.
|
|
|
|
Since stable branches don't allow new features, they are run as traditional trees
|
|
with a history, like a one-way pile of patches on top of the original release. If
|
|
CI shows something is messed up with the latest patch, I will edit it in-place if
|
|
it has only been out for a few hours, but there is no re-ordering or other history
|
|
manipulation.
|
|
|