Good Day flashrom,
We had an important decision about flashrom release schedule recently, and it went to the mailing list as a part of dev meeting notes (22.02.2023). However, the topic is big enough to have a dedicated thread on the mailing list.
We decided to make releases twice a year: one in spring/autumn, and another one in autumn/spring. The idea is that no one has to make a release in summer.
Specifically, the plan is to have two release windows per year, the duration of a window is 3-4 weeks (4 weeks max hard limit): end of April-May end of September-October
What is happening during release window: #1 No new features merged #2 Active testing and bug fixing #3 Bug fixes patches are really welcome, and are merged #3 If the bug is critical and release blocking, it either needs to be fixed or code needs to be reverted.
Just to be clear: release window meant to be fixed (3-4 weeks) and not extended, because that will be effectively a "feature freeze" window.
At the end of the window, we put a release candidate tag and make a release branch. If later a point release is needed, it goes to the branch.
Specifically, what does it mean for this year: if you are planning to contribute a patch/feature/bugfix, you have time until mid-April to get into 1.4 release. If not, then you have time until mid-September to get into 1.5.
Having said that, this is the first year we are trying to have a release schedule and it is possible that during this first year we will learn some lessons and then adjust and improve :)
Also, there is a page on the website about the release process, but it is out of date at the moment. It will be updated later with all the info.