Timeline for an 18.x release?

For Developers
1

Hi Devs, wanted to inquire about any planned timeline for a formal 18.x build in the near future.
The gap to 17.01.4 is getting a bit long, and there are good features/fixes and device support in trunk that would be nice to have in a formal stable release.

Thanks,

JF

1 Like
2

If compiling, the OpenWrt Development Branch is 18.x, whereas the LEDE Development Branch is 17.x.

As to your overarching question about a stable 18.x build, probably not in the immediate future due to the amount of devices OpenWrt supports.

  • I'm not sure if OpenWrt devs & maintainers are of the same belief as other Opensource OS devs/maintainers, but generally speaking, most devs/maintainers of OSes generally aren't a fan of being asked when the next release will be done, due to getting asked a lot, in conjunction with the complexities of new stable releases for all supported devices,
    • I'm not saying this is the position of OpenWrt devs/maintainers
3

I rummaged around on the openwrt-dev/LEDE-DEV list, and found https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2018-March/043675.html where hauke and nbd state:

My proposal would be to update all targets to GCC 7.3 and also use
binutils 2.29.1 and musl 1.1.19. This change would be done as soon as
possible and then we branch of end of March or beginning of April for
18.X and do a RC1 one week after creating the branch.

Fine with me. I'll run some more test builds for various architectures.

So I'm hopeful we'll see a Release Candidate #1 early next month.

3 Likes
4

There is also a change log for 17.01.5, so I'm wondering if that will go first.

5

I doubt there will be 17.01.5
Only reason for it to exist is Spectre/Meltdown mitigation,and since it used GCC5.5 which is EOL there have been no backports for it to GCC5.5
So it makes sense only to go for 18.X since move to GCC7.3, Binutils 2.29.1 and Musl 1.1.19 has been made some time ago.
Also,almost all targets are on kernels 4.9 or 4.14

6

Not a 100% sure how the changelog works - ie if it auto-increments or not - but even if a .5 won't come around that changelog would still be there. So it's no indication, although the intention to do another point release surely is there.

7

Thanks for the find and the share Rich, let's hope that happens.

8

I'm on LEDE snapshot so numbers are less important for me, but serious usb hdd corruption bug (on Rampis 4.14/4.9) is. So IMHO it should be fixed first.

9

I have not kept up on the developer messages to know what they're considering. Here's the archive...

https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2018-March/thread.html

1 Like
10

https://lists.bufferbloat.net/pipermail/make-wifi-fast/2018-March/001751.html says people are taking about by the first week of April

11

I am a developer (although not Lede/OpenWRT) and I understand the frustration associated with the question.

That said, it can be mitigated to a large extent by having and maintaining a roadmap timeline, and making it easy to access (e.g., one click off the main page). I know that the LEDE project tried to do something like this. I would encourage the team that this is a good practice. It enables the Devs to do what they really want to do without answering this question regularly.

Just my 2 cents - take it for what it’s worth.

1 Like
12

Hauke Mehrtens wrote about the preliminary timeline (subject to delay in case of critical bugs): https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2018-April/043747.html

  1. Branch of openwrt-18.05 at 7. April
  2. Create openwrt-18.05-rc1 release on 14. April
  3. Create openwrt-18.05-rc2 release on 28. April
  4. Create openwrt-18.05 final release on 12. May
1 Like
13

Any update on this?

14

Yes. Keep an eye on the LEDE mailing list for now; it's unclear when/if the original OpenWrt mailing list will become available again.

15

I really wish openwrt/lede have some firm release plan. It looks like few devs cares about it in the mailing list. proposed date is always next month or next week but never come. This makes me think if the project and community are still healthy

16

Oh come on. What did you expect from a release date? A date in the past? June should be fine.

17

"Make regular, predictable release cycles coupled with community provided device testing feedback." - Second goal of "LEDE" when it announced.
LEDE 17.04 had the release plan and it's followed. But from my view, OpenWrt 18.x is not so predictable.

18

I don't care which exact date it release, just think a predictable plan is necessary.

1 Like
19

I prefer a plan that produces polished releases rather than one that produces predictable releases.

20

That's an ok thing to prefer, but then you have to expect people asking the question all the time :wink: