governance/reference/release-naming.rst

Release Identification/Name

Release Identification

After the release "Zed", each OpenStack release has an identification code: "year"."release count within the year"

Example:

• OpenStack 2023.1 Axxxx

Where "2023" is the year of the release, "1" represents the first release of the year and "Axxxx" is the release name following the release name rules.

Other examples:

• OpenStack 2023.2 Bxxxx
• OpenStack 2024.1 Cxxxx

With this release identification schema we get an easy and sustainable approach to identify different OpenStack releases without dealing with the ambiguity of the release name and alphabet iteration.

The release identification schema doesn't replace the release name. It's just an unambiguous way to identify OpenStack releases.

Release Name

Each OpenStack development cycle has a code-name that is proposed and chosen by the community. This name is frequently used in preference to version numbers to refer to the release at the end of the cycle. The process of choosing the name should be an enjoyable activity for the community to mark the software development cycle, and the name itself should be fun to use.

Because the name will become associated with OpenStack, and a particular release, the process should consider potential issues of trademark.

Release Naming Process

1. Anyone may propose a name that matches the Release Name Criteria. Proposed names should be added to a page on the OpenStack wiki.
2. A Condorcet election is held to rank the names. The electorate will be Technical Committee, and the poll should be run in a manner that allows members of the community to see what each TC member voted for.
3. The Foundation will perform a trademark check on the winning name. If there is a trademark conflict, then the Foundation will proceed down the ranked list of Condorcet results until a name without a trademark conflict is found. This will be the selected name.

Release Name Criteria

The following rules are designed to provide some consistency in the pattern used to select release names, provide a fun challenge in finding names that meet the criteria, and prevent unwieldy names from being chosen.

1. Each release name must start with the letter of the ISO basic Latin alphabet following the initial letter of the previous release, starting with the initial release of "Austin". After "Z", the next name should start with "A" again.
2. A release name can't be repeated between different iterations of the alphabet.
3. The name must be composed only of the 26 characters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. Names which can be transliterated into this character set are also acceptable.
4. The name must be a single word with a maximum length of 10 characters.

Polls

Release	Coordinator	Nominations Open	Poll Open	Poll Close	Geographic Region
M	Monty Taylor	2015-06-01	2015-06-08	2015-06-15	Tokyo
N	Monty Taylor	2015-11-08	2015-11-30	2015-12-07	Texas Hill Country
O	Monty Taylor	2015-11-08	2015-11-30	2015-12-07	Catalonia
P	Monty Taylor	2016-06-22	2016-07-06	2016-07-13	New England
Q	Monty Taylor	2016-06-22	2016-07-06	2016-07-13	New South Wales
R	Monty Taylor	2017-03-22	2017-04-05	2017-04-12	British Columbia
S	Paul Belanger	2018-02-21	2018-03-14	2018-03-21	Berlin
T	Tony Breeds	2018-09-15	2018-10-15	2018-10-22	Colorado
U	Rico Lin	2019-07-01	2019-08-12	2019-08-19	China
V	Sean McGinnis	2019-11-11	2019-12-09	2019-12-16	British Columbia
W	Sean McGinnis	2020-01-20	2020-02-17	2020-02-23	N/A1
X	Sean McGinnis	2020-11-02	2020-11-30	2020-12-06	N/A
Y	Ghanshyam Mann	2021-05-13	2021-06-10	2021-06-17	N/A
Z	Ghanshyam Mann	2022-01-11	2022-01-25	2022-02-01	N/A

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1. Starting with the W release, the naming criteria changed from referring to the physical or human geography of the region encompassing the location of the OpenStack Summit, to any name proposed by the community that starts with the designated release letter.↩︎