Release Naming

During the development cycle, the release is identified using a codename. Those codenames are ordered alphabetically: Austin was the first release, Bexar is the second, Cactus the third, etc.

These codenames are chosen by condorcet vote of the OpenStack Foundation membership. Codenames are cities or counties near where the corresponding OpenStack design summit took place. An exception (called the Waldon exception) is granted to elements of the state flag that sound especially cool. That exception was extended to other major landmarks and reference points.


 * Austin (Austin, Texas): The first design summit took place in Austin, TX
 * 2011.1 Bexar (San Antonio, Texas): San Antonio is located in Bexar county
 * 2011.2 Cactus: Cactus is a city in Texas
 * 2011.3 Diablo (Santa Clara, California): Diablo is a city in the bay area near Santa Clara
 * 2012.1 Essex (Boston, Massachusetts): Essex is a city near Boston
 * 2012.2 Folsom (San Francisco, California): Folsom is a city near San Francisco
 * 2013.1 Grizzly (San Diego, California): Grizzly is an element of the state flag of California
 * 2013.2 Havana (Portland, Oregon): Havana is an unincorporated community in Oregon
 * 2014.1 Icehouse (Hong Kong): Ice House is a street in Hong Kong
 * 2014.2 Juno (Atlanta, Georgia): Juno is a locality in Georgia
 * 2015.1 Kilo (Paris, France): Paris (Sèvres, actually, but that's close enough) is home to the Kilogram, the only remaining SI unit tied to an artifact
 * 2015.2 Liberty (Vancouver, British Columbia): Liberty is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan
 * 2016.1 Mitaka (Tokyo, Japan): Mitaka is a city located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan
 * 2016.2 Newton (Austin, Texas): The "Newton House", located at 1013 E. Ninth St., Austin, TX, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
 * 2017.1 Ocata (Barcelona, Spain): Ocata is a beach about 20 minutes north of Barcelona by train

Only single words with a maximum of 10 characters are good candidates for a name. Bonus points for sounding cool.

Prior to being put to a vote, name candidates will be listed on this wiki page. Community members are encouraged to raise concerns about any potentially highly controversial names at this time.

After the vote, the names are vetted for legal entanglements. The top-most result without issues will be chosen as the release name.

=Historical Changes=
 * The voting system changed over time:
 * Prior to the J release, the popular vote was conducted using the basic Launchpad poll feature over the ~openstack group.
 * For the J & K release, a public survey monkey poll was used