The New MySQL Server Release Model

"To accomplish these objectives, the Engineering staff of MySQL has designed a new ‘milestone’ release model that differs from the prior methodology utilized for earlier versions of the MySQL Server. In short, the aim of the milestone model is to deliver releases of the server every three to six months – releases that will likely contain new features in each new milestone, with the quality of each release being, at minimum, RC (release candidate) in nature. From these milestone releases, a new GA version of the MySQL Server will be eventually introduced (note that not all milestones will result in a GA release), with the timeframes between new GA releases being every 12-18 months.

"In between each milestone drop will be integration ‘windows’ that will allow new, beta-quality features to be introduced for the next milestone release. It’s important to understand in regard to these features that the release model calls for a "rollback" action – if any of the features that were included during an integration window can't reach the required quality level by the release date, they are removed and scheduled for the next milestone. In this same vein, a milestone release (and subsequent GA versions that are derived from milestone releases) do not wait for a particular feature to be ready; instead, only features that are deemed mature enough for inclusion into a new milestone release from the core software trunk are allowed in and any feature that does not meet the internally established criteria simply becomes a potential candidate for the next milestone drop."

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