Feature Freeze (FF)

FeatureFreeze (FF) is one of the milestones in OpenStack's release schedule. Like all freezes, it happens at 23:59 UTC.

Freeze

Once FF kicks in, you are no longer allowed to merge branches containing new features into the current development release. Such branches should be rejected by the review team.

Rationale

FF ensures that sufficient share of the ReleaseCycle is dedicated to QA. Limiting the changes that affect the behavior of the software allow for consistent testing and efficient bugfixing.

FF occurs one week after BranchMergeProposalFreeze, to give time for reviewers to provide feedback and for developers to incorporate that feedback, before the branch gets merged.

Exception procedure

If you want to propose or merge a branch containing a feature (that you believe has an acceptable importance/risk_of_regression ratio) for merging into the development release after FF, follow those steps:

Make sure all your changes have thorough unit tests, especially if your patch touches an area of the code that currently is not well-tested
Open a bug in Launchpad against the relevant product, with Summary starting with "[FFE]"
In the description, provide the following information:
- Benefit of the branch
- Risk of regression
- Name of associated blueprint, if any
Link the proposed branch to the bug
Propose the branch for merging
Subscribe the Release Manager to the bug (check the Release schedule for his name)

The Release manager, with the assistance of the core developers of the associated product, will evaluate the request and grant or deny the exception. The farther we are in the release cycle, the less likely it is for the exception to be granted. Remember that the next cycle is just a month away :)