[dpdk-dev] DPDK Release Status Meeting 3/12/2020

[Ferruh Yigit]

Meeting minutes of 3 December 2020
----------------------------------

Agenda:
* Release Dates
* 20.11 retrospective
* LTS
* OvS
* Opens

Participants:
* Arm
* Debian/Microsoft
* Intel
* Nvidia
* NXP
* Red Hat


Release Dates
-------------

* v20.11 is released on Friday, 27 November 2020
   * https://mails.dpdk.org/archives/dev/2020-November/193684.html
   * https://core.dpdk.org/download/
   * https://doc.dpdk.org/guides/rel_notes/release_20_11.html

   * This was the biggest ever DPDK release, thanks to everyone who contributed.

* v21.02 dates
   * Proposal/V1:    Sunday, 20 December 2020
   * -rc1:           Friday, 15 January 2021
   * Release:        Friday, 5 February 2021

   * Please send roadmaps, preferably before beginning of the release
     * Thanks to NTT for sending roadmap


20.11 retrospective
-------------------

(I tried to summarize as best as I can, please free to correct/add when needed)

* What went well
   * Managed to get out this very big release on time
   * Was more precise with dates
   * Expectations on features were more clear in this release
   * Good co-working between maintainers
     * Communication was better, project become more resilient
   * Akhil commented last minute stress was less
   * Major gcc distribution didn't cause disruption this time
   * LTS is doing good job overall
     * Thanks to Luca and Kevin for their work there

* Things to improve
   * next-net is busy, %60+ of the commits coming from next-net,
     would be good to get more help, options to improve
     * Add a co-maintainer in that level
       * Andrew (backup maintainer) is great candidate if he can spare time
         He is already helping on reviews
       * He already covered during release when Ferruh is on holiday
     * Testpmd maintainership is not working fine, find maintainers for it
     * Should we add more vendor trees?
       * Huawei is contributing more, should it have a vendor sub-tree?
         * Huawei is being good citizen mostly
   * CI can be improved
   * Top level Thomas/David may felt the last minute stress more this time
     * Pachwork update by Jerin, to add reviewer column may help
       * This seems not exactly matching patchwork intention of using delegate
         field
         * Need to work on how to upstream this improvement
     * It is causing more problem when expectation is not clear from vendors
   * Security issues
     * They didn't work very well, the busy release is affecting it
       * Good thing is there is a well defined process, needs resource to execute
       * Can help to allocate separate resource for it
         * A technical project manager can do it, doesn't have to be developer


LTS
---

* v19.11.6-rc1 is out, please test
   * http://inbox.dpdk.org/dev/20201203093856.299103-1-luca.boccassi@gmail.com/
   * Target release date is 17 December

* v18.11.10 work is going on
   * waiting for backports, request emails sent
   * -rc1 is planned before holidays


OvS
---

* Second version of patch to switch DPDK 20.11 is sent, please review


Opens
-----

* Asaf shared a draft release process documentation
   * It will be sent as documentation patch for community review,
     after initial review



DPDK Release Status Meetings
============================

The DPDK Release Status Meeting is intended for DPDK Committers to discuss the
status of the master tree and sub-trees, and for project managers to track
progress or milestone dates.

The meeting occurs on every Thursdays at 8:30 UTC. on https://meet.jit.si/DPDK

If you wish to attend just send an email to
"John McNamara <john.mcnamara at intel.com>" for the invite.