Thanks Wei. I understand the constraints, but overall, I feel it is all about subjectivity and convenience. Just for an example, this PR https://github.com/apache/cloudstack/pull/13613 was merged within 2 hours of creation. Approved by one of the RMs for merging. No integration tests (though they wouldn't help much in this case). I don't see any manual test reported in the PR either. Definitely, we can not include all PRs, but I feel that when they are moved out of a milestone, it would be better to give some reason. Maybe it is my problem and my expectations are a bit high around this.
Regards, Abhishek On Thu, 16 Jul 2026 at 12:29, Wei ZHOU <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Abhishek, > > Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I understand your concern, and I agree > that we should continue looking for ways to reduce the growing PR backlog. > > One thing I'd like to clarify is that 4.23 is a regular feature release, > with a primary focus on new features and improvements. Most bug-fix PRs are > instead targeted for the 4.22.2.0 or 4.20.4.0 milestones, which are the > next LTS releases. > > Regarding the PRs that were moved out of the 4.23.0 milestone, the main > reason was not necessarily the risk of the changes themselves. Many of them > were simply not ready for review and testing before the code freeze. > According to our merge policy, every PR must be adequately reviewed and > tested before it can be merged. If a PR is still work in progress, awaiting > review, or has not yet been sufficiently validated, it cannot realistically > be included in the release. > > The community also has limited QA resources. This is especially challenging > for new features and large improvements, which typically require > considerably more effort to review and test than bug fixes. As a result, > some PRs had to be deferred even though they are valuable additions. The > deferred PRs have been moved to the 4.24.0 milestone: > https://github.com/apache/cloudstack/pulls?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Apr+milestone%3A4.24.0 > > Hopefully, this provides enough visibility for authors and reviewers to > continue working on them early in the next development cycle. > > I agree that reducing the PR backlog is important, and I think the best way > to achieve that is to encourage PR authors to get their changes ready for > review and testing earlier in the release cycle, while also attracting more > reviewers and testers from the community. > > Thanks again for raising the discussion. > > > > Kind regards, > > Wei > > > > > > On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 8:42 AM Abhishek Kumar <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Wei and other RMs, > > > > Thank you for the update and for all the effort that has gone into > > preparing the release. > > > > While it will be great to have a stable 4.23.0 release soon, I was a > > little disappointed to see a number of self-contained PRs and changes > > moved out of the 4.23.0 milestone without any accompanying rationale. > > By "self-contained," I mean changes that are largely isolated and do > > not affect major existing CloudStack components. Since 4.23.0 is a > > non-LTS release, I had hoped it would provide an opportunity to > > include such changes, even if they carry a bit more risk than what > > we'd typically consider for an LTS release. > > > > We currently have a backlog of over 260 open PRs, and I'm concerned > > that if we continue to take this approach, it will become increasingly > > difficult to make meaningful progress in reducing that backlog. > > > > These are just my personal thoughts, and I fully appreciate the effort > > that goes into balancing stability with feature delivery. Looking > > forward to the new release and the many exciting features it will > > bring. > > > > Regards, > > Abhishek > > > > On Tue, 14 Jul 2026 at 22:46, Wei ZHOU <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > Hi All, > > > > > > The code freeze for CloudStack 4.23.0.0 is now in effect. The main branch > > > will remain frozen until the 4.23.0.0 release. From this point onward, > > only > > > blocker, critical, and security fixes will be accepted for merging. > > > > > > We will now focus on stabilizing the main branch and preparing the > > > 4.23.0.0-RC1 release. > > > > > > Thanks everyone for your contributions and support in getting us to this > > > milestone! > > > > > > > > > Kind regards, > > > > > > Wei > > > > > > > > > > > > On Mon, Jul 6, 2026 at 3:19 PM Wei ZHOU <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Hi All, > > > > > > > > After discussing this with several community members, we decided to > > keep > > > > the 4.23 open for one more week so that the outstanding PRs currently > > under > > > > testing or final review can be included in the 4.23.0.0 release. > > > > > > > > The updated timeline for 4.23.0 is as follows: > > > > > > > > - *Until July 10, 2026:* Accept new features, bug fixes, and > > > > improvements. Features that are not ready to be merged by then will > > be > > > > moved to 4.24.0. > > > > - *July 11, 2026:* Freeze the main branch. From this point onward, > > > > only critical/blocker fixes will be accepted. > > > > - *July 13, 2026, or once all blocker and critical issues have been > > > > resolved (whichever is later):* Cut RC1 and begin the voting > > process. > > > > > > > > > > > > Thanks everyone for the understanding. > > > > > > > > Kind regards, > > > > Wei > > > > > > > > > > > > On Thu, May 21, 2026 at 2:47 PM Fabricio Duarte Junior < > > > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > >> (forwarding from users@ to dev@) > > > >> Hey all, > > > >> > > > >> After evaluating the current state and the remaining work for 4.23.0, > > we > > > >> have decided to > > > >> postpone the release by another month. This is to ensure we can > > deliver a > > > >> more complete, > > > >> polished, and well tested version. > > > >> > > > >> This postponement was primarily due to the following factors: > > > >> > > > >> - A good portion of the features and enhancements planned for 4.23.0 > > [1] > > > >> are still under > > > >> development. > > > >> - We had some delays in addressing security issues from previous > > cycles. > > > >> - There is a considerable number of security issues that we intend to > > > >> solve on this release. > > > >> - We still have a significant number of open pull requests waiting for > > > >> review and testing. > > > >> > > > >> Hence, the updated timeline for 4.23.0 is the following: > > > >> > > > >> - Until July 3rd, 2026: accept new features, bug fixes, and > > improvements. > > > >> Features that are not > > > >> yet ready for merge will be moved to 4.24.0. > > > >> - July 4th, 2026: freeze the main branch. From this point onward, only > > > >> critical/blocker fixes will be > > > >> accepted. > > > >> - July 6th, 2026, or once all blocker/critical/security issues are > > > >> resolved (whichever is later): cut > > > >> RC1 and start the voting process. > > > >> > > > >> We kindly ask for the community's support in reviewing and testing the > > > >> PRs marked for 4.23.0. > > > >> Additional help in these will be essential to keep the schedule on > > track. > > > >> > > > >> Once again, thanks everyone for the understanding. > > > >> > > > >> On 2026/04/07 19:44:17 Wei ZHOU wrote: > > > >> > Hi all, > > > >> > > > > >> > Due to several factors - such as the number of ongoing improvements > > and > > > >> new > > > >> > features, the significant QA effort required, and pending security > > > >> issues - > > > >> > we have decided to adjust the timeline. All dates will be postponed > > by > > > >> one > > > >> > month. > > > >> > > > > >> > The updated timeline of 4.23.0.0 release is as follows: > > > >> > > > > >> > - *Until June 1st, 2026*: Accept new features, bug fixes, and > > > >> > improvements > > > >> > - *June 2nd, 2026*: Freeze the main branch. From this point > > onward, > > > >> only > > > >> > critical/blocker fixes will be accepted > > > >> > - *June 3rd, 2026*, or once all blocker/critical/security issues > > are > > > >> > resolved (whichever is later): Cut RC1 and start the voting > > process > > > >> (allow > > > >> > 1-3 weeks for additional RCs if necessary) > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > Thanks for your understanding and collaboration. > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > Kind regards, > > > >> > Wei & Fabricio > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > >> > On Tue, Feb 3, 2026 at 9:11 AM Wei ZHOU <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > >> > > > > >> > > Hi all, > > > >> > > > > > >> > > We are planning to work on a CloudStack 4.23.0 release. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > CloudStack 4.23.0 will be a Regular release [1], which introduces > > new > > > >> > > features > > > >> > > and enhancements. It is targeted for users who require the newest > > > >> > > features as > > > >> > > early as possible and are able to upgrade when the releases are > > > >> available. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > As discussed [2], I'll serve as the RM for the 4.23.0 release. > > > >> Fabricio > > > >> > > Duarte will > > > >> > > act as the co-RM, assisting with triage, reviews, testing, merges, > > > >> etc and > > > >> > > release work. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > The timeline for this would be the following (Proposed by > > Fabricio, > > > >> > > thanks): > > > >> > > > > > >> > > - Until May 3rd 2026: accept new features, bug fixes and > > improvements. > > > >> > > - May 4th 2026: freeze the main branch. From this point, we would > > only > > > >> > > accept > > > >> > > critical/blocker fixes. > > > >> > > - May 11th 2026: cut RC1 and start the vote (1-3 weeks to work on > > the > > > >> next > > > >> > > RCs if necessary). > > > >> > > > > > >> > > All open issues and PRs targeted for this release are tracked in > > the > > > >> > > 4.23.0 > > > >> > > release milestone [3]. The design document of some features can be > > > >> found > > > >> > > at > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/4.23+Design+Documents > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Please ping us (@weizhouapache or @winterhazel) on your PRs and > > issues > > > >> > > that > > > >> > > are to be included in 4.23.0 on Github. Please let us know if you > > > >> have any > > > >> > > questions. > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > [1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/CLOUDSTACK/LTS > > > >> > > [2] > > https://lists.apache.org/thread/z7n339vcdym9f494ngb5pkzlxx8mjf2n > > > >> > > [3] https://github.com/apache/cloudstack/milestone/42 > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > Kind regards, > > > >> > > Wei > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > > >> > > > > >> > > > > > >
