Re: [RFC] Create supported branch from edk2-stable* tag (Required to address critical bug BZ3111)

["Leif Lindholm" <leif@nuviainc.com>]

Hi Mike,

This looks fine to me.
I will add a potential tweak that I won't strongly advocate for, but
think should be considered:
We don't technically need a branch for this; a tag could be pushed
directly.

On Tue, Dec 15, 2020 at 16:53:09 +0000, Kinney, Michael D wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> The following bug has been fixed on edk2/master
> 
>     https://bugzilla.tianocore.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3111
>     https://github.com/tianocore/edk2/pull/1226
> 
> This bug is also considered a critical bug against edk2-stable202011.  The behavior
> of the Variable Lock Protocol was changed in a non-backwards compatible manner in
> edk2-stable202011 and this is impacting some downstream platforms.  The following
> 2 commits on edk2/master restore the original behavior of the Variable Lock Protocol.
> 
>     https://github.com/tianocore/edk2/pull/1226/commits/893cfe2847b83da74f53858d6acaa15a348bad7c
>     https://github.com/tianocore/edk2/pull/1226/commits/16491ba6a6e9a91cedeeed45bc0fbdfde49f7968
> 
> The request here is to create a supported branch from edk2-stable202011 tag and apply 
> these 2 commits as critical bug fixes on the supported branch.
> 
> Since we started using the edk2-stable* tag process, there has not been a request to create
> a supported branch from one of those tags.  As a result, there are a couple opens that 
> need to be addressed:
> 
> 1) Supported branch naming convention.
> 
>     Proposal: stable/edk2-stable*
>     Example:  stable/edk2-stable202011

For the bikeshedding part, if we're doing the branches, I support
using the stable/ prefix, but I also think this obviates the need to
include the word stable in the portion after /.
Since branches unlike tags don't have global namespace, I also think
there is no need for the edk2 portion of the name.
So an example branch name could be:
  stable/202011

> 2) CI requirements for supported branches.
> 
>     Proposal: Update .azurepipelines yml files to also trigger on stable/* branches
>     and update GitHub settings so stable/* branches are protected branches.

This would of course mandate the use of branches.

> 3) Release requirements for supported branches.
> 
>    Proposal: If there are a significant number of critical fixes applied to
>    a stable/edk2-stable* branch, then a request for a release can be made that
>    would trigger focused testing of the supported branch and creation of a new
>    release.  If all testing passes, then a tag is created on the stable/edk2-stable*
>    branch and a release is created on GitHub that summarizes the set of critical
>    fixes and the testing performed.
> 
>    Proposal: edk2-stable<YYYY><MM>.<XX> 
>    Example : edk2-stable201111.01

Sounds good to me.

Best Regards,

Leif

> Please let me know if you have any feedback or comments on this proposal.  The goal
> is to close on this topic this week.
>   
> Thank you,
> 
> Mike