Published on: 2015-10-01T09:17:52+00:00
In a Bitcoin developer email thread in October 2015, Marcel Jamin questioned the versioning of Bitcoin and its alignment with SemVer specifications. Another developer responded by explaining that Bitcoin does follow the SemVer standard, using the format a.b.c, with major releases represented by a new second digit and maintenance releases indicated by a third digit change. The email thread sheds light on the technical aspects of Bitcoin development and emphasizes the importance of adhering to industry standards.In a bitcoin-dev mailing list discussion in 2015, Wladimir J. van der Laan, Bitcoin Core's lead maintainer, addressed the versioning of Bitcoin software not following the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) specification. Van der Laan mentioned that only critical bug fixes would be included in the feature freeze for version 0.12 and that postponing the release for consensus changes was not ideal. He also acknowledged the idea of decoupling consensus changes from major releases to avoid release date drift. The conversation concluded with the suggestion of creating a 0.12.1 release if necessary.On September 24th, 2015, van der Laan announced a feature freeze for Bitcoin Core 0.12 on December 1st of that year. Luke Dashjr responded by expressing concern about postponing the release and the potential delay it could cause in developing, testing, and reviewing new code. Dashjr also highlighted the issue of release date drift due to changes needing to be added. Van der Laan clarified that the feature freeze meant only critical bug fixes could be made to version 0.12 but acknowledged the benefits of decoupling consensus changes from major releases. He suggested the possibility of a 0.12.1 release if needed.In another discussion on the Bitcoin-dev mailing list, Luke Dashjr initiated a conversation about the consensus freeze for the upcoming Bitcoin Core release. Dashjr recommended postponing the consensus freeze until after the HK workshop in case a hardfork was decided on. He also questioned whether the consensus freeze had been entirely decoupled from the release process, considering that old versions required an update as well. The discussion did not provide specific information about the outcome or decision regarding the consensus freeze.During this ongoing discussion around updates to the Bitcoin protocol in September 2015, a member expressed their belief that consensus rule changes could be minor releases if they were not ready in time for a major release. Luke Dashjr raised concerns about the absence of a "Consensus freeze" and suggested postponing it until after the HK workshop in case a hardfork was decided on. The conversation aimed to address various aspects of the Bitcoin protocol development.Wladimir J. van der Laan announced a feature freeze on the Bitcoin protocol for December 1, 2015, via bitcoin-dev on September 24, 2015. However, Luke questioned the absence of a "Consensus freeze" and proposed delaying it until after the HK workshop in case a hardfork was decided on. Luke also raised concerns about the potential decoupling of the consensus freeze from the release process, as old versions would still require an update.According to a post by Wladimir J. van der Laan on the Bitcoin development mailing list, the next major release of Bitcoin Core, 0.12.0, is planned for the end of 2015. The proposed schedule includes opening Transifex translations for 0.12 on November 1st, finalizing and closing translation for 0.10, and implementing a feature freeze and translation string freeze on December 1st. In January, the plan is to split off the `0.12` branch from `master`, start the RC cycle, tag and release `0.12.0rc1`, and begin merging for 0.13 on the master branch. The final release of version 0.12.0 is expected on February 1st, 2016. Due to events such as Scaling Bitcoin Hongkong and end-of-year festivities in December, pre-RC bugfixes and polishing will be postponed.The Bitcoin Core team is preparing for the next major release, 0.12.0, by the end of the year. The proposed schedule involves opening Transifex translations for 0.12 on November 1st, with a soft translation string freeze to avoid unnecessary changes. On December 1st, a feature and translation string freeze will take place. In January, the team plans to split off the `0.12` branch from `master`, initiate the RC cycle, tag and release `0.12.0rc1`, and begin merging for 0.13 on the master branch. The final release of version 0.12.0 is anticipated for February 1st.
Updated on: 2023-08-01T16:16:06.482460+00:00