Release schedule

[Anastasia Klimchuk]

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is out of date at the moment.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.