ESMValTool v2.8 release

[remi-kazeroni]

Hi @ESMValGroup/esmvaltool-developmentteam, the release process for ESMValTool v2.8.0 is ongoing!

Timeline

• Polishing PRs and making them "ready for review": Friday, March 10 (ok).
• Feature freeze: Friday, March 17 (planned).
• Testing: week of March 20-24 (planned).
• Release: around March 27 (planned).

Release team

Release manager: @remi-kazeroni
Co-release manager: @valeriupredoi

Release branch

v2.8.x

Release Status

Minor Release	Status	Milestone	Date	Docs	Release Tag	PyPi	conda-forge	docker	testing
v2.8.0	Under preparation (with Core v2.8.0rc2)	Tool v2.8	28/03/2023	Docs/2.8.0	v2.8.0	PyPi/v2.8.0	anaconda/2.8.0	docker/v2.8.0	website

Feel free to ask general questions about the release in this discussion. I will open separate issues about the recipe testing, output comparison, selection of highlights for the Changelog, ...

Thanks in advance for your collaboration with the release of v2.8!

[remi-kazeroni]

Overview of the issues / PRs to be addressed before reaching the Feature Freeze

The milestone v2.8 is changing very frequently, making it difficult to provide an overview of what should ideally go in before the feature freeze. Here's a tentative plan:

Critical

Fixes for broken tests, handling of deprecated features, ...

• Updated docs and tests regarding new search_esgf option #3069
• Read config-user.yml using esmvalcore.config module #2736
• packaging dependency missing #3059
• Tests in full development mode fail after PR 3040 #3061

Would be great to include

PRs that could not be considered later in the release process. These are typically PRs that modify existing diagnostics which might impact output of existing recipes. If more time needed to finish those, please let me know 👍

• Splitting of flato13ipcc.yml into separate recipes and adding recipes for regional Figures #2156
• Test running recipes with the development version of ESMValCore #3072
• Published recipes use deprecated fx_variables option in preprocessors #3056
• Updated recipes for ESMValCore v2.8 #3064

Would be nice to include

PRs that could be considered a bit later in the process. In these cases, please tag me in the PR, so we could decide together if that could still make it in v2.8. These are typically PRs that only add new code, unlikely to break existing recipes.

• Update obs4MIPs datasets to the latest version in recipe_autoassess_radiation_rms_Amon_obs.yml #2990
• Update obs4MIPs dataset to the current naming scheme in recipe_smpi.yml #2991
• Let recipe_impact.yml write a CSV file that can directly be used in C4I portal #2258
• obs4MIPs dataset and version are outdated in recipes #2974
• Use aliases in perfmetrics #3058

Need to have by the end of the release process

These are typically documentation PRs

• Detailed instructions for release procedure: running recipes and analyzing the output #3032
• Application of the broken recipe policy for releases #3065
• Update release instructions #3066

Issues/PRs likely to be bumped to the next milestone

These are cases for which progress has not been made since the last release

• recipe_perfmetrics_land_CMIP5 fails in multi_model_statistics step #2594
• Recipes with (some) issues discovered during the 2.7.0 release runs #2943

[remi-kazeroni]

Don't hesitate to comment here if you disagree with this tentative plan. One aim is to help prioritizing things to be pushed to the finish line in case we don't have the resources to tackle everything marked v2.8...

[remi-kazeroni]

Hi @ESMValGroup/esmvaltool-developmentteam, we have finally reached the feature freeze for ESMValCore today and the first release candidate for ESMValCore v2.8.0 has just been released. You can follow the status of this release here. This release candidate will be used early next week to do a first round of recipe testing.

ESMValTool feature freeze

1. Deadline to polish PRs and mark them ready for reviews: 10/03/2023 (next Friday). This should include the PR description, title and labels ready. This would then give us a few days to finish reviewing PRs and merge those.
2. Deadline to get PRs merged and considered for the release: 17/03/2023 (at the very latest, no further delays possible).

The PRs and issues still marked v2.8.0 are somewhat ranked by priority in the post above. Everyone is very welcome to help pushing things to the finish line, review PRs, ... Please tag me in the issues and PRs if you have any questions!

Many thanks for your help with the ESMValTool v2.8.0 release!

[katjaweigel]

@remi-kazeroni thanks a lot for the detailed info!

[remi-kazeroni]

Thanks to everyone that has contributed to getting PRs ready for v2.8 and checking recipe failures for the first round of testing (see #3076)!

Plans for next week are reviewing PRs from milestone v2.8, addressing issues and finishing fixing recipes (#3076). Once that is achieved, a second (and final) release candidate for the Core will be made available, ideally next Friday (March 17) and the feature freeze for the Tool will take place. A release branch will be created and used to test recipes one last time and to compare the output against v2.7. If all goes well, the final release will take place in about 2 weeks from now 🍻

[bouweandela]

Hi @remi-kazeroni, thanks for all the work on this! Could you add the same, nice-looking overview table to this discussion as to the ESMValCore release discussion?

[remi-kazeroni]

Thanks @bouweandela! I've just done it in #3055 (comment). I now realize it is better to have this kind of table/info rather than trying to make a list of PRs/issues to address as such list is constantly evolving.

[bouweandela]

Thanks @remi-kazeroni, it looks great! Indeed the milestone could be most convenient for keeping track of ongoing issues/pull requests.

[remi-kazeroni]

Another week of work has passed, bringing us closer to the final release! Thanks to everyone who contributed to PRs, reviews, package maintenance, recipe testing and more 👍

Timeline for the next days:

• 17/03: release of ESMValCore v2.8.0rc2
• 20/03: pushing all remaining recipes+diag PRs to the finish line:
  • Use aliases in perfmetrics #3058
  • [ ] Published recipes use deprecated fx_variables option in preprocessors #3056
  • Remove superseded radiation recipes #3115
• 21/03: start final round of recipe testing, output comparison with v2.7, results will be made available asap. Support from the community to inspect the results will be required. See Recipe testing and output comparison for release 2.8.0 - Final Core release candidate rc2 #3127
• until 24/03: finishing all documentation related PRs (changelog, release documentation, ...)
• 23/03: release of ESMValCore v2.8 (if no major bug in rc2, but that is hopefully unlikely as rc2 is very close to rc1)
• 28/03: end of the recipe output checking and release of ESMValTool v2.8
• 29/03: 🏖️ 😴 🦥

(n.b.: release means GitHub release here. Conda-forge releases will happen on the day after)

[remi-kazeroni]

And you can still propose highlight PRs and vote until 22/03 noon! See #3110

[remi-kazeroni]

Recipe output from the second round of testing are available in #3127 Support from the community to check the output is most welcome. The release team will take care of the final documentation and release related PRs 🍻

[remi-kazeroni]

Mission completed! See ESMValGroup/Community#91 for announcement!