<aside> 💡 In 2021, the lotus team has developed and practiced a better software delivery process so that we continue to deliver high-quality software to our community. We also had some learning from the experience that we will be evolving in the 2022 - Lotus release flow as described below!

</aside>

• [ ] Update to the public link: https://github.com/filecoin-project/lotus/discussions/7053

Purpose

This document aims to describe how the Lotus team plans to ship releases of the Lotus implementation of Filecoin. Interested parties can expect new releases to come out as described in this document.

High-level summary

• Major releases (1.0.0, 2.0.0, etc.) are reserved for significant changes to the Filecoin protocol that transform the network and its usecases. Such changes could include the addition of new Virtual Machines to the protocol, major upgrades to the Proofs of Replication used by Filecoin, etc.
• Even minor releases (1.2.0, 1.4.0, etc.) of the Lotus software correspond to mandatory releases as they ship Filecoin network upgrades. Users must upgrade to these releases before a certain time in order to keep in sync with the Filecoin network. We aim to ensure there is at least one week before the upgrade deadline.
• Patch versions of even minor releases (1.2.1, 1.4.2, etc.) correspond to hotfix releases. Such releases will only be shipped when a critical fix is needed to be applied on top of a mandatory release.
• Odd minor releases (1.3.0, 1.5.0, etc.), as well as patch releases in these series (1.3.1, 1.5.2, etc.) correspond to feature releases with new development and bugfixes. These releases are not mandatory, but still highly recommended, as they may contain critical security fixes.
• We aim to ship a new feature release of the Lotus software every 3 weeks, so users can expect a regular cadence of Lotus feature releases. Note that mandatory releases for network upgrades may disrupt this schedule.

Motivation and Requirements

Our primary motivation is for users of the Lotus software (storage providers, storage clients, developers, etc.) to have a clear idea about when they can expect Lotus releases, and what they can expect in a release.

In order to achieve this, we need the following from our release process and conventions:

• Lotus version conventions make it immediately obvious whether a new Lotus release is mandatory or not. A release is mandatory if it ships a network upgrade to the Filecoin protocol.
• The ability to ship critical fixes on top of mandatory releases, so as to avoid forcing users to consume larger unrelated changes.
• A regular cadence of feature releases, so that users can know when a new Lotus release will be available for consumption.
• The ability to ship any number of feature releases between two mandatory releases.
• A clear description of the various stages of testing that a Lotus Release Candidate (RC) goes through.