Flink release schedule

[Ufuk Celebi-2]

Hey devs,

I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
months and could not find the following information:

What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?

I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users. What
do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two minor
releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
target for this information.

Best,

Ufuk


[1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html

[Robert Metzger]

Hey Ufuk,

I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for scoping
releases, and then put this to the website.
The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their site.
I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release schedule in
the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
recently).
I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
community developments to put together a first draft for such a roadmap.

[1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/

On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hey devs,
>
> I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
> months and could not find the following information:
>
> What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
> planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
>
> I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users. What
> do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
> does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
> do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two minor
> releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
> target for this information.
>
> Best,
>
> Ufuk
>
>
> [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
>

[Fabian Hueske-2]

I like the idea of a roadmap that is kept up-to-date.
We've tried that in the past a couple of times but they became outdated
rather quickly.
We've also had a some threads on the dev mailing list to discuss the scope
& features of next releases.

We could discuss and update the roadmap after every release (or even
feature freeze).
IMO, it would be good to have two things on in the document.

* a long-term vision (~1 year) where the project is heading to
* a roadmap for the next release (~3 months)

Cheers, Fabian

Am Di., 5. Feb. 2019 um 16:55 Uhr schrieb Robert Metzger <
[hidden email]>:

> Hey Ufuk,
>
> I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for scoping
> releases, and then put this to the website.
> The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their site.
> I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release schedule in
> the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
> recently).
> I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
> community developments to put together a first draft for such a roadmap.
>
> [1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/
>
> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > Hey devs,
> >
> > I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
> > months and could not find the following information:
> >
> > What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
> > planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
> >
> > I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users. What
> > do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
> > does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
> > do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two minor
> > releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
> > target for this information.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Ufuk
> >
> >
> > [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
> >
>

[Ufuk Celebi-2]

I like the idea of having a road map, but I think that's a separate
discussion. I'd be happy to chime in a separate discuss thread if you
want to drive this Fabian/Robert. Now that I'm re-reading my initial
email, I actually think it sounded a lot like a proposal to add more
information to the website. Sorry about that. My main question was
actually the following:

- What is the planned feature freeze date (and planned release date)
for the 1.8 release?

Best,

Ufuk

On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 2:38 PM Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:

>
> I like the idea of a roadmap that is kept up-to-date.
> We've tried that in the past a couple of times but they became outdated rather quickly.
> We've also had a some threads on the dev mailing list to discuss the scope & features of next releases.
>
> We could discuss and update the roadmap after every release (or even feature freeze).
> IMO, it would be good to have two things on in the document.
>
> * a long-term vision (~1 year) where the project is heading to
> * a roadmap for the next release (~3 months)
>
> Cheers, Fabian
>
> Am Di., 5. Feb. 2019 um 16:55 Uhr schrieb Robert Metzger <[hidden email]>:
>>
>> Hey Ufuk,
>>
>> I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for scoping
>> releases, and then put this to the website.
>> The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their site.
>> I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release schedule in
>> the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
>> recently).
>> I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
>> community developments to put together a first draft for such a roadmap.
>>
>> [1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>> > Hey devs,
>> >
>> > I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
>> > months and could not find the following information:
>> >
>> > What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
>> > planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
>> >
>> > I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users. What
>> > do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
>> > does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
>> > do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two minor
>> > releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
>> > target for this information.
>> >
>> > Best,
>> >
>> > Ufuk
>> >
>> >
>> > [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
>> >

[Shaoxuan Wang]

I agree with Ufuk that we should publish the plan of the following release
on the website, including the release manager, the included features, as
well as feature freezing date, such that the Flink developers can better
plan their time for PR and reviews.

I am also interested in the “release roadmap" mentioned by Robert and
Fabian. I suggest we should open another thread to discuss this separately.
On the one hand, roadmap is a window to introduce the features that
Flink may have in the future to Flink user. More importantly, we need to
provide a way for users to request or prioritize the features they think
are important for them. Before starting to work on any release, we create a
email thread to collect user requested features. If the user wants a
feature in a certain release, he can directly reply to that release email
thread to ask for or raise the priority of that particular feature. We need
spend more efforts to improve user experience. The response time to fix
bugs and address user requested features is one of the most important
criteria.

Regards,
Shaoxuan

On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 10:33 PM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I like the idea of having a road map, but I think that's a separate
> discussion. I'd be happy to chime in a separate discuss thread if you
> want to drive this Fabian/Robert. Now that I'm re-reading my initial
> email, I actually think it sounded a lot like a proposal to add more
> information to the website. Sorry about that. My main question was
> actually the following:
>
> - What is the planned feature freeze date (and planned release date)
> for the 1.8 release?
>
> Best,
>
> Ufuk
>
> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 2:38 PM Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> > I like the idea of a roadmap that is kept up-to-date.
> > We've tried that in the past a couple of times but they became outdated
> rather quickly.
> > We've also had a some threads on the dev mailing list to discuss the
> scope & features of next releases.
> >
> > We could discuss and update the roadmap after every release (or even
> feature freeze).
> > IMO, it would be good to have two things on in the document.
> >
> > * a long-term vision (~1 year) where the project is heading to
> > * a roadmap for the next release (~3 months)
> >
> > Cheers, Fabian
> >
> > Am Di., 5. Feb. 2019 um 16:55 Uhr schrieb Robert Metzger <
> [hidden email]>:
> >>
> >> Hey Ufuk,
> >>
> >> I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for scoping
> >> releases, and then put this to the website.
> >> The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their site.
> >> I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release schedule
> in
> >> the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
> >> recently).
> >> I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
> >> community developments to put together a first draft for such a roadmap.
> >>
> >> [1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/
> >>
> >> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Hey devs,
> >> >
> >> > I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
> >> > months and could not find the following information:
> >> >
> >> > What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
> >> > planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
> >> >
> >> > I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users. What
> >> > do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
> >> > does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
> >> > do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two minor
> >> > releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
> >> > target for this information.
> >> >
> >> > Best,
> >> >
> >> > Ufuk
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
> >> >
>

[Till Rohrmann]

I agree with what was said above. I think that announcing a release manager
at the beginning of the release cycle is beneficial. The release manager
could help with several tasks which help improving the release process if
done continuously:

1. Tracking progress of features and posting updates to the community
2. Monitoring the release branch for stability to ensure that it is in a
releasable state
3. Keeping track of blockers and critical issues and raising awareness that
these issues need to be resolved in a timely manner
4. Toward the end of the development phase calling the shots whether
postponing the feature freeze or dropping features
5. Keeping track of test deficits which should be addressed

I guess that I'm mixing here some responsibilities of a project manager and
a release manager but I think that having them covered would help the
community.

Cheers,
Till

On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 8:04 AM Shaoxuan Wang <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I agree with Ufuk that we should publish the plan of the following release
> on the website, including the release manager, the included features, as
> well as feature freezing date, such that the Flink developers can better
> plan their time for PR and reviews.
>
> I am also interested in the “release roadmap" mentioned by Robert and
> Fabian. I suggest we should open another thread to discuss this separately.
> On the one hand, roadmap is a window to introduce the features that
> Flink may have in the future to Flink user. More importantly, we need to
> provide a way for users to request or prioritize the features they think
> are important for them. Before starting to work on any release, we create a
> email thread to collect user requested features. If the user wants a
> feature in a certain release, he can directly reply to that release email
> thread to ask for or raise the priority of that particular feature. We need
> spend more efforts to improve user experience. The response time to fix
> bugs and address user requested features is one of the most important
> criteria.
>
> Regards,
> Shaoxuan
>
> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 10:33 PM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
>> I like the idea of having a road map, but I think that's a separate
>> discussion. I'd be happy to chime in a separate discuss thread if you
>> want to drive this Fabian/Robert. Now that I'm re-reading my initial
>> email, I actually think it sounded a lot like a proposal to add more
>> information to the website. Sorry about that. My main question was
>> actually the following:
>>
>> - What is the planned feature freeze date (and planned release date)
>> for the 1.8 release?
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Ufuk
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 2:38 PM Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> >
>> > I like the idea of a roadmap that is kept up-to-date.
>> > We've tried that in the past a couple of times but they became outdated
>> rather quickly.
>> > We've also had a some threads on the dev mailing list to discuss the
>> scope & features of next releases.
>> >
>> > We could discuss and update the roadmap after every release (or even
>> feature freeze).
>> > IMO, it would be good to have two things on in the document.
>> >
>> > * a long-term vision (~1 year) where the project is heading to
>> > * a roadmap for the next release (~3 months)
>> >
>> > Cheers, Fabian
>> >
>> > Am Di., 5. Feb. 2019 um 16:55 Uhr schrieb Robert Metzger <
>> [hidden email]>:
>> >>
>> >> Hey Ufuk,
>> >>
>> >> I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for
>> scoping
>> >> releases, and then put this to the website.
>> >> The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their site.
>> >> I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release
>> schedule in
>> >> the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
>> >> recently).
>> >> I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
>> >> community developments to put together a first draft for such a
>> roadmap.
>> >>
>> >> [1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > Hey devs,
>> >> >
>> >> > I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
>> >> > months and could not find the following information:
>> >> >
>> >> > What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is the
>> >> > planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
>> >> >
>> >> > I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users.
>> What
>> >> > do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
>> >> > does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as "we
>> >> > do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two
>> minor
>> >> > releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
>> >> > target for this information.
>> >> >
>> >> > Best,
>> >> >
>> >> > Ufuk
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
>> >> >
>>
>

[Chunhui Shi]

I like the idea of maintaining an up-to-date long term roadmap for Flink.
And the roadmap should reflect the users' wishes to Flink. I remember Flink
did collected users' feedbacks some years ago but I could not find the
links right now -- we could use them or a newer version as the starting
point in roadmap discussions.

Just my 2 cents. Cheers.
Chunhui

On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 12:23 AM Till Rohrmann <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I agree with what was said above. I think that announcing a release manager
> at the beginning of the release cycle is beneficial. The release manager
> could help with several tasks which help improving the release process if
> done continuously:
>
> 1. Tracking progress of features and posting updates to the community
> 2. Monitoring the release branch for stability to ensure that it is in a
> releasable state
> 3. Keeping track of blockers and critical issues and raising awareness that
> these issues need to be resolved in a timely manner
> 4. Toward the end of the development phase calling the shots whether
> postponing the feature freeze or dropping features
> 5. Keeping track of test deficits which should be addressed
>
> I guess that I'm mixing here some responsibilities of a project manager and
> a release manager but I think that having them covered would help the
> community.
>
> Cheers,
> Till
>
> On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 8:04 AM Shaoxuan Wang <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> > I agree with Ufuk that we should publish the plan of the following
> release
> > on the website, including the release manager, the included features, as
> > well as feature freezing date, such that the Flink developers can better
> > plan their time for PR and reviews.
> >
> > I am also interested in the “release roadmap" mentioned by Robert and
> > Fabian. I suggest we should open another thread to discuss this
> separately.
> > On the one hand, roadmap is a window to introduce the features that
> > Flink may have in the future to Flink user. More importantly, we need to
> > provide a way for users to request or prioritize the features they think
> > are important for them. Before starting to work on any release, we
> create a
> > email thread to collect user requested features. If the user wants a
> > feature in a certain release, he can directly reply to that release email
> > thread to ask for or raise the priority of that particular feature. We
> need
> > spend more efforts to improve user experience. The response time to fix
> > bugs and address user requested features is one of the most important
> > criteria.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Shaoxuan
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 10:33 PM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >
> >> I like the idea of having a road map, but I think that's a separate
> >> discussion. I'd be happy to chime in a separate discuss thread if you
> >> want to drive this Fabian/Robert. Now that I'm re-reading my initial
> >> email, I actually think it sounded a lot like a proposal to add more
> >> information to the website. Sorry about that. My main question was
> >> actually the following:
> >>
> >> - What is the planned feature freeze date (and planned release date)
> >> for the 1.8 release?
> >>
> >> Best,
> >>
> >> Ufuk
> >>
> >> On Fri, Feb 8, 2019 at 2:38 PM Fabian Hueske <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > I like the idea of a roadmap that is kept up-to-date.
> >> > We've tried that in the past a couple of times but they became
> outdated
> >> rather quickly.
> >> > We've also had a some threads on the dev mailing list to discuss the
> >> scope & features of next releases.
> >> >
> >> > We could discuss and update the roadmap after every release (or even
> >> feature freeze).
> >> > IMO, it would be good to have two things on in the document.
> >> >
> >> > * a long-term vision (~1 year) where the project is heading to
> >> > * a roadmap for the next release (~3 months)
> >> >
> >> > Cheers, Fabian
> >> >
> >> > Am Di., 5. Feb. 2019 um 16:55 Uhr schrieb Robert Metzger <
> >> [hidden email]>:
> >> >>
> >> >> Hey Ufuk,
> >> >>
> >> >> I agree! We should have regular discussions here on the list for
> >> scoping
> >> >> releases, and then put this to the website.
> >> >> The Beam project has a pretty nice roadmap [1] available on their
> site.
> >> >> I actually don't really know if there's an agreed upon release
> >> schedule in
> >> >> the Flink community (I've not been following the dev@ list closely
> >> >> recently).
> >> >> I'll try to find somebody who knows a bit more about the recent Flink
> >> >> community developments to put together a first draft for such a
> >> roadmap.
> >> >>
> >> >> [1] https://beam.apache.org/roadmap/
> >> >>
> >> >> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 9:29 AM Ufuk Celebi <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > Hey devs,
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I've been only following Flink dev loosely in the last couple of
> >> >> > months and could not find the following information:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > What's the schedule for the next release? In particular, when is
> the
> >> >> > planned feature freeze and when is the planned release date?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I think this can be valuable information for both devs and users.
> >> What
> >> >> > do you think about adding this information to the Flink website? It
> >> >> > does not have to be exact dates, but general information such as
> "we
> >> >> > do time based releases every X months", "we support the last two
> >> minor
> >> >> > releases with patches", etc. I think this page [1] would be a good
> >> >> > target for this information.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Best,
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Ufuk
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > [1] https://flink.apache.org/community.html
> >> >> >
> >>
> >
>