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.

Sign up for GitHub

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

[chore][VERSIONING.md] Add long term support policy #11001

Merged
merged 14 commits into from
Sep 20, 2024
Merged

[chore][VERSIONING.md] Add long term support policy #11001

Changes from 2 commits
Commits
Show all changes
14 commits
Select commit Hold shift + click to select a range
69fe3b3
[chore][VERSIONING.md] Add long term support policy
mx-psi Aug 29, 2024
4913a84
Clarify wording
mx-psi Aug 29, 2024
51eb41e
Update VERSIONING.md
mx-psi Aug 30, 2024
e619f1b
Reword sentence about using unstable components
mx-psi Aug 30, 2024
6f3dda2
Clarify that removing a component does not imply a major version change
mx-psi Aug 30, 2024
25cdeef
Update VERSIONING.md
mx-psi Aug 30, 2024
76384f7
Clarify that long term support refers to support after v1
mx-psi Aug 30, 2024
86313d8
Merge branch 'main' into mx-psi/1.0-support-policy
mx-psi Sep 2, 2024
b3684e1
Merge branch 'main' into mx-psi/1.0-support-policy
mx-psi Sep 3, 2024
b135a12
Update VERSIONING.md
mx-psi Sep 6, 2024
78a6621
Clarify that components are Go modules
mx-psi Sep 6, 2024
a8e05bd
Apply suggestions from code review
mx-psi Sep 16, 2024
0ea87e7
Merge branch 'main' into mx-psi/1.0-support-policy
mx-psi Sep 16, 2024
8205489
Address feedback
mx-psi Sep 16, 2024
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
48 changes: 41 additions & 7 deletions VERSIONING.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,13 +1,40 @@
# Versioning
# Versioning and stability

This document describes the versioning policy for this repository. This policy
is designed so that the following goal can be achieved:
The OpenTelemetry Collector SIG produces several artifacts for [a variety of audiences](CONTRIBUTING.md#target-audiences). This document describes the versioning and support policy for these artifacts. These policies are designed so that the following goal can be achieved:

**Users are provided a codebase of value that is stable and secure.**
**Users are provided software artifacts of value that are stable and secure.**

## Public API expectations
The policies are divided depending on the artifact's target audience. While an artifact is supported, [critical bugs](docs/release.md#bugfix-release-criteria) and security vulnerabilities MUST be addressed. The main criteria for the length of support for an artifact is how easy it is for an artifact's target audience to adapt to disruptive changes.

mx-psi marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
The following public API expectations apply to all modules in opentelemetry-collector and opentelemetry-collector-contrib.
## End-user focused software artifacts

mx-psi marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
End-user focused software artifacts are those that are intended to be used by [end-users](CONTRIBUTING.md#end-users) of the OpenTelemetry Collector. These artifacts include
- Binary distributions of the OpenTelemetry Collector.
mx-psi marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
- Collector components.

mx-psi marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
These artifacts are versioned according to the [semantic versioning v2.0.0](https://semver.org/) specification.

### General considerations

Binary distributions produced by the Collector SIG contain components and features with varying [levels of stability](README.md#stability-levels). We abide by the following principles to relate the Collector's version to the stability of its components and features:

* The Collector's core framework behavior MUST be stable in order for a Collector distribution to be v1.0.0 or higher.
* Users can easily understand when they are opting in to use a component or feature that is not stable.
* The Collector MUST provide a configuration or CLI flag to be able to opt out of using unstable components or features.
* The Collector's telemetry (e.g. Collector logs) MUST provide the ability to identify usage of unstable components or features.
TylerHelmuth marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved

### Long term support

TylerHelmuth marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
The OpenTelemetry Collector SIG provides long term support for binary distributions of the OpenTelemetry Collector and its components. The following policies apply to long term support for any major version starting on v1:

* A binary distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector MUST be supported for a minimum of **one year** after the release of the next major version of said distribution.
* Components MUST be supported for a minimum of **6 months** after the release of the next major version of said component or after the component has been marked as deprecated. If a component has been deprecated for 6 months it MAY be removed from a binary distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector.
Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

It would be good to have a section in this doc specifically defining what "supported" means

Copy link
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

When does support for a binary end?

Copy link
Member Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

It would be good to have a section in this doc specifically defining what "supported" means

The intention was that this sentence above:

critical bugs and security vulnerabilities MUST be addressed

was the definition of supported (or, at least, a minimum criteria for what supported means). We may do more than this, but that's the minimum.

When does support for a binary end?

This was also meant to be already covered in the text by this:

A binary distribution of the OpenTelemetry Collector MUST be supported for a minimum of one year after the release of the next major version of said distribution.

So, basically, we support the distro indefinitely until we release the next major version, after which we support it for one more year.

Copy link
Member Author

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

@codeboten if you think we should file an issue to continue discussing this please do so!


TylerHelmuth marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
## Go modules

Go modules are intended to be used by [component developers](CONTRIBUTING.md#component-developers) and [Collector library users](CONTRIBUTING.md#collector-library-users) of the OpenTelemetry Collector

Unless otherwise specified, the following public API expectations apply to all modules in opentelemetry-collector and opentelemetry-collector-contrib.
As a general rule, stability guarantees of modules versioned as `v1` or higher are aligned with [Go 1 compatibility promise](https://go.dev/doc/go1compat).

### General Go API considerations
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -54,7 +81,7 @@ structure.
must continue to be valid after a change to the validation rules, except when the configuration struct would cause an error
on its intended usage (e.g. when calling a method or when passed to any method or function in any module under opentelemetry-collector).

## Versioning and module schema
### Module versioning and schema

* Versioning of this project will be idiomatic of a Go project using [Go
modules](https://golang.org/ref/mod#versions).
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -135,3 +162,10 @@ on its intended usage (e.g. when calling a method or when passed to any method o
* Contrib modules will be kept up to date with this project's releases.
* GitHub releases will be made for all releases.
* Go modules will be made available at Go package mirrors.

### Long term support

mx-psi marked this conversation as resolved.
Show resolved Hide resolved
The OpenTelemetry Collector SIG provides long term support for Go modules. Support for modules depend on the module's [target audiences](CONTRIBUTING.md#target-audiences):

- Modules intended for **component developers** MUST be supported for a minimum of **1 year** after the release of the next major version of said module or after the module has been marked as deprecated.
- Modules intended for **Collector library users** MUST be supported for a minimum of **6 months** after the release of the next major version of said module or after the module has been marked as deprecated.
Loading