Introducing significant changes to Official Features after Feature Freeze can result in your package being reverted or reduce the chances of receiving an exception
Features are accounted for at two different levels:
- Feature page promotion and distro coordination -- see Fedora Feature Process
- Package level (continue reading)
Once the Feature Freeze milestone is reached, all new features for the release should be:
- substantially complete and in a testable state
- enabled by default -- if so specified by the feature
In the Fedora development process, all new feature work is completed by Feature Freeze and tested during the test releases: Alpha and Beta.
Some Example Do's and Don't's
After Feature Freeze, Fedora has certain expectations about what will be happening with your feature. These expectations are based on needing to test your feature (package), test how other pieces of the distribution interact with your feature, and test the overall stability, look, and feel of the distribution.
This what we all expect post-Feature Freeze:
- Do: Have something testable
- Do: Have the the feature significantly complete
- Do: submit bugfixes
- Do not: Continue to add new enhancements
- Do not: Enable the feature by default (if not already default at Feature Freeze)
- Do not: Make changes that require other (dependent) software packages to make changes as well
Exception Process
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Before checking in changes and building new packages, please request an exception first. This saves everyone the time and mess of reverting a change if Release Engineering disagrees with the request.
If you believe you have a good reason to break Feature Freeze. file a ticket with FESCo. Breaking Feature Freeze means making changes to your package other than simple bug fixes.
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 Feature Freeze.
- Impact of not accepting the the new package(s) at this point in the schedule.
- Information on what testing you've performed to mitigate risks introduced by replacing the existing package(s)
Exception Evaluation
FESCo will evaluate your request and provide feedback. This will generally be done in the ticket, and/or in a regular FESCo meeting.