SIG-Release Evolution - Draft
Background:
Sig-release as a whole is under resourced due to low engagement/interest. The ongoing tasks involved need to be revised to streamline the processes.
An initial sig-release repo was set up to record the release process, roles, release timelines, etc.
The R1 release process had 2 main roles/areas defined:
Proposed changes
Part of this proposal (discussed on TSC 05/22/2025 forum) was to re-define the Sig-release roles and to add an additional role “Use Case maintainer”
Release manager
responsible for coordinating each release and encouraging use case owners to deliver content on time
Verification infrastructure maintainer
responsible for the CI and other infrastructure associated with running Nephio use cases
Use case maintainers (per use case)
Responsible for maintaining and evolving use case test cases and validating the use case per release
Other outcomes from the TSC discussion:
Release process change
Need to cover the activity of “cutting the release”:
Creating new tags, updating the test infrastructure files, pushing packages etc.
Current process for making a release is far too complex today
The amount of tagging is already very complex
For this purpose, the role of “cutting the release” would be between the release manager and the infra maintainer
Use case owners would be responsible for making sure their test cases were passing and their dependencies were up to date
Use case owners would decide what versions of downstream dependencies - e.g. OAI, Free5GC etc - would be supported in that use case
these changes are covered by user stories rather than as part of the release process
Current role of SIG release is too broad
Should do a checklist for the release process
The prow infrastructure was largely maintained by Fiachra and Rado, with other use case developers contributing on an ad hoc basis (and Bala has done lots of release management activities)
Next steps:
document the roles and resource them, including the individual use cases and their owners
develop a checklist for the current process
put a plan in place to streamline the process
SIG leads should take a break-out session to identify unfilled roles and strategize on ensuring all needed roles are filled
SIG-3 Roles
Release manager
TBD
Verification infrastructure maintainer
TBD
Use case maintainers (per use case)
TBD
Release Checklist
TBD
Repo’s and artifacts:
The 2 main artifacts “released” are docker images and kpt pkgs.
Docker container images:
nephio
porch
kpt-backstage-plugin
free5gc
oai
KPT packages:
Repo branching and release:
https://github.com/nephio-project/nephio
Nephio Docs release: