Maintenance Schedules#

This is a record of the intended maintenance schedules for various releases and dependency support.

Python Version Support#

PursuedPyBear supports all CPython versions supported by the PSF at any level.

We tend to start testing new versions of cPython when they reach the release candidate stage, but don’t guarantee compatibility until at least one ppb release after the formal release of a Python version.

We drop old versions of Python during the breaking release each year (see next section) to prevent breaking mid year for school environments.

Release Schedules#

PursuedPyBear targets four releases a year, based on the solstices and equinoxes:

  • Around the northward equinox, which is about March 20th.

  • Around the northern solstice, which is about June 20th. (This will always be a x.0 release.)

  • Around the southward equinox, which is about September 20th.

  • Around the southern solstice, which is about December 21st.

We prefer to use the directional names of the solstices and equinoxes as we support a global community. Naming them after their seasons would leave out portions of the world.

About four weeks before the target release date, we freeze any new feature merges. This means any PR that is a feature or enhancement (not a bug fix, documentation change, or examples) may be approved, but held until after the release.

At the same time as freeze, we try to release the first beta of the new version. If there has been any changes, we like to release a new beta the next week, and one more the week after if bug fixes are still being submitted.

If the beta has been stable, at 2 weeks before the release, we like to cut a release candidate. At this point the majority of accepted PRs are documentation and bug fix related. We will cut as many release candidates as we see fit over the following two weeks.

On or around the expected release date, we will cut a final release.

On Versioning#

You may recognized from the note on the Northern Solstice release that ppb uses a form of Calendar Versions or calver. Given a release version like y.m.p:

The y is a year tag. Version 1.0 is the June 2021 release of ppb.

The m is a minor version. We will bump this during the three other releases of the year. It starts at 0 and should never be higher than 3.

The p is a patch. For the most part this will be excluded from the version string. If it is present, it represents a bug fix release outside of the above release cadence.

Deprecations and API Breakages#

PursuedPyBear as a project seeks to minimize how much we break existing users experiences. While we want to be able to continue to experiment and evolve the APIs for performance, we need strict rules about how we implement and deliver them.

When an API change becomes necessary we will follow the following steps:

  1. In the next ppb release the existing behavior and name will throw a DeprecationWarning.

  2. We will continue to support the existing behavior for at least one calendar year.

  3. Following this period, the deprecated behavior and name will be removed or replaced in the next major (x.0) release. These releases take place in the Northern Solstice release each year.

Some examples:

If a feature gets deprecated during a major release like 1.0, it will need to be deprecated for the next three releases: 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. It could then be removed in 2.0

Alternatively, if a feature is deprecated in 1.1, it will stay deprecated in 1.2, 1.3, and 2.0. This meets the deprecated for one year step, but we cannot remove the feature in 2.1, 2.2, or 2.3. It would need to be removed in 3.0.

Regarding DeprecationWarnings#

A DeprecationWarning is considered a minor change in ppb. This means they can happen in any release where the minor version (The x in 1.x) is changed.

We will do our best to include instructions in the warning on how to update your code to avoid the DeprecationWarning going forward.