Skip to content
New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Add initial documentation of focus feature system #3029

Merged
merged 4 commits into from
May 11, 2016
Merged
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
37 changes: 26 additions & 11 deletions wiki/development/branching-and-release.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,33 +1,48 @@
---
layout: wiki
title: Branching and Release
description:
description: This page describes the ACE3 release and branching system
group: development
parent: wiki
order: 5
---


## 1. Versioning
For ACE3 we use an versioning strategy based on [semver](http://semver.org). This means our version numbering has the following structure: **`MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD`**
For ACE3 we use an versioning strategy based on [semver](http://semver.org). This means our version numbering has the following structure: **`MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD`**

Because this modification is for Arma and backwards compatability is not always possible, our `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD` rules are slightly different. We increment the:
Because this modification is for Arma and backwards compatibility is not always possible, our `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.BUILD` rules are slightly different. We increment the:

```
MAJOR version when we switch to a new arma version (i.e. Arma 4 or standalone expansion)
MINOR version when we add new features or large amount of bug fixes
PATCH version when a release contains only bug fixes.
```

## 2. Branching and releases
We have a release scheduled every 2 weeks on a Tuesday. On the Friday before release, the project management will decide whether or not this scheduled release will continue. When continuing with the release, the current `Master branch` will be merged into the `Release branch`. The `Release branch` will not contain any direct commits and no other branches will be merged into this branch. The exception being `hotfixes`, which are branched off `Release` and merged back into `Release` and `Master`.
## 2 Project goals

Following the release of ACE 3.4.1, we have adopted a system involving collaborative project goals. Following `MINOR` releases the ACE development team will decide on a goal to work towards for the next minor increment (whether that be developing a new feature, overhauling an existing feature or simply enhancing a certain area of the project).

As ACE is primarily a hobby project, project goals will never operate on a fixed deadline and nobody is required to contribute to them. They are simply a mechanism of directing the project's development between versions.

Individual developers are free to continue working on the project at their own discretion and releases will otherwise operate as usual. Meaning that if features unrelated to the goal are complete, there will still be a minor version increment when the next release is made.

Whenever a project goal is chosen a new issue will be made for the purpose of discussing and documenting the current goal's development in a centralized location.

## 3 Branching and releases

ACE releases are generally scheduled for a Tuesday a week or two in advance. On the Friday before release, the project management will decide whether or not this scheduled release will continue. When continuing with the release, the current `master` branch will be merged into the `release` branch. The `release` branch will not contain any direct commits and no other branches will be merged into this branch. The exception being hotfixes, which are branched off `release` and merged back into `release` and `master`.

Hotfixes are fixes for critical bugs that prevent stable gameplay with the currently available version of ACE3.

During this release process between the Friday and Tuesday, the day of release, work can continue on as normal on the `master` branch. This includes new features, bug fixes that won't make it for release or other work. These will not be merged into the `release` branch until the next release cycle.

`Hotfixes` are fixes for critical bugs that prevent stable gameplay with the currently available version of ACE3 in combination with the current version of Arma 3.
### 3.1 Branching

During this release process between the Friday and Tuesday, the day of release, work can continue on as normal on the `Master branch`. This includes new features, bug fixes that won't make it for release or other work. These will not be merged into the `Release branch` until the next release cycle, normally 2 weeks later.
* New features, bug fixes that are not a hotfix or other work will always be branched off `master` or another branch but never a `hotfix` or the `release` branch.
* Hotfixes are always branched off the `release` branch
* The `release` branch is never merged or deleted. Only `master` or hotfixes are allowed to merge into the `release` branch.

### 2.1 Branching
* New features, bug fixes that are not a hotfix or other work will always be branched off `Master` or another branch but never a `hotfix` or the `Release branch`.
* Hotfixes are always branched off the `Release branch`.
* The release branch is never merged or deleted. Only Master or hotfixes are allowed to merge into the `Release branch`.
### 3.2 Diagram

<a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/img/wiki/development/release_and_branching.jpg"><img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/img/wiki/development/release_and_branching.jpg" alt="Release and branching flowchart" /></a>