Updated September 28, 2010: The beta is available.

One week from today, September 14, 2010, we reach Feature Complete for Fedora 14.  It also signals the start of preparations for the Beta release.

Here’s how things will roll from here towards the public release of the Fedora 14 Beta:

  • 09-Sept :: Test Compose–Release Engineering Creates a “test” compose for QA to run tests on. This is helps make to make sure the Release Candidate has a better chance of being in good shape on 16-Sept.
  • 09-Sept to 15-Sep :: QA tests the “Test Compose.”
  • 14-Sept :: Feature Complete–All features must be 100% complete or deferred to Fedora 15.
  • 14-Sept :: Beta Change Deadline–No more new packages are pushed to stable unless they fix Fedora 14 Beta blocker bugs.
  • 16-Sept :: Compose Beta Release Candidate (RC)–Cannot occur if there are open Fedora 14 Alpha Blocker Bugs. If delayed by too long, impacts testing and delays the release
  • 17-Sept to 22-Sept :: QA tests the Beta Release Candidate to validate that the release criteria have been met.
  • 22-Sept :: “Go/No-Go Meeting“–QA, Development, and Release Engineering gather to evaluate any unmet release criteria in the form of Fedora 14 Beta Blocker bugs.
  • 23-Sept :: “Release Readiness Meeting“–At this meeting all of the teams involved in the Fedora release cycle gather to make sure everything is well coordinated and in order for launch day.
  • 23-Sept :: If there are no unresolved blocking issues from the “Go/No-Go” or “Release Readiness” meetings, release engineering will stage and start synchronizing the Fedora 14 Beta to the mirrors. It takes a few days for all the mirrors to synchronize the release.
  • 28-Sept :: Fedora 14 Beta Public Availability–At 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Release Engineering does the “bit flip” and all of the mirrors make the pre-staged Beta release available to the world.

In the event that the release candidate cannot be successfully validated (all specified tests run and no unresolved blocker bugs), the beta release is delayed by one week, a new release candidate is built and tested, and all subsequent tasks start a week later, including the final release date.

See the Fedora wiki for More details about Fedora’s scheduling methodology. The full release schedule is also on the wiki.

With the Release Candidate compose date a little over a week away, here are important ways you can help increase the likelihood of the Fedora 14 Beta shipping on time:

  • Provide timely status to blocker bugs you are the owner for–it may be obvious to you what’s going to happen, yet beyond bug comments, most people can’t tell if the bug is being worked on or not. Help us all know.
  • Vigilance about fixing known Fedora 14 Beta blocker bugs now–Addressing existing Beta blocker bugs now gives us a better chance at creating the release candidate on time.
  • Save nice-to-have bug fixes for after the beta release. Only push new packages that fix Fedora 14 Beta blocker bugs. Every code change increases the risk of introducing an unknown issue, potentially delaying the release.
  • Help the QA team test the “Test Compose” on Friday–follow test list for announcement on how to get involved.
  • Resist the urge to check-in untested, last minute changes–our release cycles are short. Save it for after the beta.