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docs: finalized initial versioning policy

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Co-authored-by: blam <ben@blam.sh>
Co-authored-by: Johan Haals <johan.haals@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Patrik Oldsberg <poldsberg@gmail.com>
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Patrik Oldsberg
2022-01-17 14:39:02 +01:00
parent bdc5114280
commit 9e2ed70220
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docs/overview/versioning-policy.md
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@@ -4,81 +4,74 @@ title: Versioning Policy
description:
---
## The Purpose <!-- of this doc - for us - the authors - when writing it - delete after -->
The Backstage project is comprised of a set of software components that together
form the Backstage platform. These components are both plugins as well as core
platform libraries and tools. Each component is distributed as a collection of
[packages](<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Npm_(software)>), which in the end is
what you end up consuming as an adopter of Backstage.
- Release cadence and naming 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, etc.
- does not map to semver
- Backstage 1.2 is a manifest of multiple versions of packages.
- X need to be greater then Y or there will be dragons
- X is supported for N versions
The number of Backstage packages that build up an application can be quite
large, in the order of hundreds, with just the core platform packages being
counted in the dozen. This creates a challenge for the integrators of a
Backstage project, as there are a lot of moving parts and pieces to keep up to
date.
<!--
- https://kubernetes.io/releases/version-skew-policy/
- https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/deprecation-policy/
-->
## Backstage releases
<!-- Less technical introduction -->
A Backstage release is a manifest of several packages and plugins that work well
together. The overarching version of this manifest is decoupled from the
individual package versions.
There are two different release lines, each with their own versioning policy and
release cadence. The first one is the main release line, which provides
regularly scheduled and releases with high stability. On top of that there is a
Next release line which provides early access to changes in the upcoming main
release.
Our solution to this is collecting our most used components and their packages
into an umbrella version that we call a Backstage release. Each release is a
collection of packages at specific versions that have been verified to work
together. Think of it as a toolbox that comes with batteries included, but you
can always add more plugins and libraries from the open source ecosystem as well
as build your own.
## Release Lines
### Main Release Line
The Backstage project is structured around two different release lines, a
primary "main" release line, and a "next" release line that serves as a preview
and pre-release of the next main-line release. Each of these release lines have
their own release cadence and versioning policy.
Current release cadence: Once every 1 months
## Main Release Line
The main release line in versioned with a major and minor version and does not
adhere to [semver](https://semver.org).
Release cadence: Monthly
The major release if there ever is one, will denote a significant improvement or
change to the Backstage platform. It may come with a large new set of features,
or a switch in the product direction, but other than that it is not different
than a minor release.
The main release line in versioned with a major, minor and patch version but
does **not** adhere to [semver](https://semver.org). The version format is
`<major>.<minor>.<patch>`, for example `1.3.0`.
Minor releases are the most common type of release and the one that is used by
default. Each new minor version can contain new functionality, breaking changes,
and bug fixes.
An increment of the major version denotes a significant improvement or change to
the Backstage platform. It may come with a large new set of features, or a
switch in the product direction. These will be few and far between, and do not
have any set cadence. Policy-wise they are no different than a minor release.
Both major and minor releases are governed by the
[versioning policy](#versioning-policy) in the same way, both of them being
treated as one incremental release.
Each regularly scheduled release will bring an increment to the minor version,
as long as it is not a major release. Each new minor version can contain new
functionality, breaking changes, and bug fixes, according the
[versioning policy](#release-versioning-policy).
### Next Release Line
Patch versions will only be released to address critical bug fixes. They are not
bound to the regular cadence and are instead releases whenever needed.
## Next Release Line
Release cadence: Weekly
The next release is a weekly snapshot of the project. This is the quickest way
to get access to new functionality in Backstage but there is no guarantees
around breaking changes in these releases.
The next release line is a weekly release of the project. Consuming these
releases gives you early access to upcoming functionality in Backstage. There
are however fewer guarantees around breaking changes in these releases, where
moving from one release to the next may introduce significant breaking changes.
## Versioning Policy
## Release Versioning Policy
The following versioning policy applies to the main release line. The next
release line provides no guarantees.
The following versioning policy applies to the main-line releases only.
<!-- We will do our best to adhere to this policy. -->
- Each release may contain breaking changes, see the package versioning policy
below for more details.
- Breaking changes in Packages that have reached version `>=1.0.0` will only be
done when necessary and with as low impact as possible. When possible, there
will always be a deprecation path for a breaking change.
done when necessary and with the goal of having minimal impact. When possible,
there will always be a deprecation path for a breaking change.
- Security fixes **may** be backported to older releases based on the simplicity
of the upgrade path and severity of the vulnerability.
of the upgrade path, and the severity of the vulnerability.
- We will do our best to adhere to this policy.
### Version Skew Policy
### Skew Policy
In order for Backstage to function properly the following versioning rules must
be followed. The rules are referring to the
@@ -99,22 +92,6 @@ be followed. The rules are referring to the
## Package Versioning Policy
### Release Stages
The release stages(`@alpha`, `@beta` `@public`) refers to the
[TSDoc](https://tsdoc.org/) documentation tag of the export, and are also
visible in the API report of each package.
Backstage uses three stages to indicate the stability for each individual
package export.
- `@public` is considered stable.
- `@beta` exports will not be publicly visible in the package release.
- `@alpha` here be dragons. Exports will not be publicly visible in the package
release.
### Package Versioning
Every individual package is versioned according to [semver](https://semver.org).
This versioning is completely decoupled from the Backstage release versioning,
meaning you might for example have `@backstage/core-plugin-api` version `3.1.4`
@@ -129,9 +106,9 @@ Following versioning policy applies to all packages:
- Breaking changes are recommended to document a clear upgrade path in the
changelog. This may be omitted for newly introduced or unstable packages.
In addition, this applies to packages that have reached 1.0.0 or above:
For packages at version `1.0.0` or above, the following policy also applies:
- All exports are marked with a release stage.
- All exports are marked with a [release stage](#release-stages).
- Breaking changes to stable exports include a deprecation phase if possible.
The deprecation must have been released for at least one mainline release
before it can be removed.
@@ -141,12 +118,18 @@ In addition, this applies to packages that have reached 1.0.0 or above:
changes without a deprecation period, but the changes must still adhere to
semver.
For mainline releases: Whether alpha and beta tagged exports need changesets
depends on how we end up releasing them, for example is it a separate version or
separate import? `@backstage/core-plugin-api/alpha`?
### Release Stages
|--------|--------------------------------------------| | | 0.x | >=1.0 |
|--------|--------------------------------------------| | Alpha | changeset -
release | changeset - release | | Beta | changeset - release | changeset -
release | | Public | changeset + guide | deprecation |
|--------|--------------------------------------------|
The release stages(`@alpha`, `@beta` `@public`) refers to the
[TSDoc](https://tsdoc.org/) documentation tag of the export, and are also
visible in the API report of each package.
Backstage uses three stages to indicate the stability for each individual
package export.
- `@public` - considered stable and are available in the main package entry
point.
- `@beta` - Not visible in the main package entry point, beta exports must be
accessed via `<package-name>/beta` or `<package-name>/alpha` imports.
- `@alpha` - here be dragons. Not visible in the main package entry point, alpha
exports must be accessed via `<package-name>/alpha` imports.