Ignoring the freeze process and introducing new packages anyway can result in your package being reverted or reduce the chances of receiving an exception
- At Alpha Freeze, all packages should testable and feature complete--whether they are "official features" of the release or not
- Freezing the package collection makes sure there is adequate time to prepare and test the Alpha Release before making it publicly available.
- Changes to Critical Path Packages after Alpha Freeze must follow the exception process described here.
- Changes to non-Critical Path Packages are peer-driven via Bodhi. They do not require an exception from Release Engineering, but they should use established the Bodhi peer-review, karma system.
- New packages can still be reviewed, added in CVS and built
- Development builds of packages can continue, however they will not be included in the test release unless you request a break of the freeze for your build.
Requesting an Exception
If believe there is a good reason for you to break the Alpha freeze, build and test your package before submitting a request for approval
To request a freeze break, do so by filing a Release Engineering Ticket. Please include the following information:
- A description of what you want to change
- Rationale for why the change is important enough to be allowed in after the freeze
- The koji build nvr (name-version-release)
- Impact of not accepting the change at this point of the schedule
- Amount of testing you have performed to mitigate the risk of this change
As a convenience there is a
make target called tag-request in your package module that assists in creating a ticket for you.Exception Evaluation
The Release Engineering team will evaluate your request and provide feedback.
- Approval comes in the form of +1's (meaning Yes or I approve).
- Two +1's (without any negative feedback or -1's) are necessary to build. If there is negative feedback, conversation will ensue and a new vote will be taken.
If your request is accepted, your package will be tagged for inclusion in Rawhide.
If your request is denied, your package will not appear in Rawhide until the freeze ends. If you disagree with Release Engineering's decision you may enter an appeal with FESCo. To start the appeals process with FESCo create a ticket with FESCo.
Once the Alpha freeze has lifted (near the time the Alpha release is made public) changes will be allowed without special request. We still ask that you keep your changes to bugfix in nature to preserve the stability of the release as we work and test towards the final release.