+1 and as I understand it, cut a 6.0-alpha ASAP? On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 7:58 AM Jon Haddad <[email protected]> wrote:
> +1 > > On Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 7:54 AM Josh McKenzie <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> +1 >> >> On Wed, Nov 19, 2025, at 10:51 AM, Josh McKenzie wrote: >> >> I propose we vote on adding the below text to our wiki ( >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/cassandra/) and start >> executing on this release cycle. >> >> Discuss thread: >> https://lists.apache.org/thread/y3fyv596h83vwmpc85x4vpq78p1r12l4 >> >> [VOTING STRUCTURE] >> Current roll call is 27 (see: >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CASSANDRA/Cassandra+Project+Governance >> ) >> >> Procedure for this vote: this is a process change. See governance doc >> here: >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CASSANDRA/Cassandra+Project+Governance >> >> Discussion / binding votes on project structure and governance changes >> (adopting subprojects, how we vote and govern, etc). (super majority) >> >> >> A majority of the electorate at the time a vote is called is the >> low-watermark for votes in favour necessary to pass a motion; that is, both >> types of majority votes (simple and super-majority) require this 50% of >> last roll call participation. >> >> >> *Super majority voting:* 66% of votes must be in favor to pass. Requires >> 50% participation of roll call. >> >> So 14 binding participants required, 10 of which must be in favor. >> >> I'll plan on leaving the vote open through at least Dec 1 given the >> upcoming holiday week; if we hit the required low water mark for it and >> have very clear consensus at that point I'll poll to close it early so we >> can get this codified and move on to other discussions. >> >> Text to vote on as follows: >> --- >> *Summary:* >> We target a yearly MAJOR release cadence, cutting a new release branch on >> April 1st that we then stabilize. Our yearly branching cadence will run >> from April to April - this avoids holiday crunch on feature finalization. >> We will release alphas at the beginning of all other quarters (i.e. July, >> October, January). >> >> Alphas give downstream users a stable snapshot for qualification and >> internal testing that is much nearer the upcoming GA. >> >> All dates are aspirational - we’re an open‑source project that relies on >> volunteers, so flexibility is expected. >> >> See our Release Lifecycle wiki for details on the definitions of alpha, >> beta, and rc: >> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CASSANDRA/Release+Lifecycle >> >> *Yearly MAJOR release cadence:* >> >> - A release branch from trunk is created April 1st. >> - A MAJOR.0.0-beta1 release is packaged from that branch and made >> available shortly after freeze date. >> - Only features that have reached -beta / experimental status will be >> available in the next MAJOR. >> - We cut new -betaN releases as needed (see Release Lifecycle >> documentation). There is no fixed calendar lifecycle for beta progression. >> - RCs and the final GA follow the normal release lifecycle process >> (beta -> rc -> ga) and are cut based on criteria in our Release Lifecycle. >> - A new -beta1 for the next MAJOR is always cut the next April 1 >> after the prior -beta1 independent of when the prior .MAJOR reaches GA. >> - Stabilization of adjacent .MAJOR lines and promotion from beta to >> rc to ga are independent. >> >> *Alpha release cadence:* >> >> - At the start of each non-April quarter we cut an alpha-N release. >> - Target dates will be July 1st (alpha-1), October 1st (alpha-2), Jan >> 1st (alpha-3). >> - For alpha releases, it's built and released from a tag. No new >> branches. >> - Alphas receive no support; security fixes or bug‑fix backports are >> applied only to trunk and GA branches. >> - Alphas go through the standard Apache release process; they are >> voted on, artifacts prepared, and notification is sent on the dev@, >> user@, and ASF slack channels but not published on the download page. >> >> *Subprojects:* >> >> - Sub‑projects are encouraged but not required to follow the same >> April → July → Oct → Jan cadence; they may skip a quarter if there is >> nothing releasable after a brief dev@ discussion. >> >> *Transition:* >> >> - Rather than waiting until April of 2026 for 6.0 as per the new >> schedule, since it's been over a year since 5.0 released we will plan to >> release 6.0 any time between now and April of 2026 at the latest. The >> train >> may leave early but worst-case it'll go out on time. >> - We will plan on cutting 7.0 in April of 2027 >> >> >>
