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| 1 | +# Proposal: New Versioning Scheme for Node Problem Detector |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +This document proposes a new versioning scheme for the Node Problem Detector to align more closely with Kubernetes releases. |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +## Current Versioning Scheme |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +The current versioning scheme is `vX.Y.Z`, where X, Y, and Z are major, minor, and patch versions respectively. This does not reflect the project's dependency or compatibility with Kubernetes versions. |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +## Proposed Versioning Scheme: `v0.<k8s_minor>.<patch>` |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | +The proposed new versioning scheme is `v0.<k8s_minor>.<patch>`. |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +* **v0**: The major version will remain 0, as we are not ready to declare the project as stable. |
| 14 | +* **`<k8s_minor>`**: This part of the version will be the minor version of the supported Kubernetes release. For example, for Kubernetes v1.34, this would be `34`. |
| 15 | +* **`<patch>`**: This is a patch number for bug fixes and other small changes within the same supported Kubernetes version. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +For example, with the release of Kubernetes v1.34, the next version of the Node Problem Detector would be `v0.34.0`. |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +The release branch will be named `release-1.<k8s_minor>` to match Kubernetes versions (e.g. `release-1.34`). Git tags will be named after the version, like `v0.<k8s_minor>.<patch>`. Patches will be created from these release branches. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +This scheme is not ambiguous and will work for the foreseeable future. Kubernetes v1.100 is not expected until approximately 2047. |
| 22 | + |
| 23 | +## Reasoning |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +This new versioning scheme will provide the following benefits: |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +* **Clarity**: It will be immediately clear which version of Node Problem Detector is compatible with which version of Kubernetes. |
| 28 | +* **Consistency**: It aligns the project with the release cycle of Kubernetes, which it is tightly coupled with. |
| 29 | +* **Predictability**: Users can better predict when new releases will be available. |
| 30 | +* **Easier Maintenance**: By having separate version lines for each Kubernetes minor version (e.g., `v0.34.x`, `v0.35.x`), we can easily backport critical bug fixes and CVEs to older, still-supported release lines without being forced to also backport newer features. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +## Implementation |
| 33 | + |
| 34 | +To implement this change, we will: |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +1. Update `version.txt` to the new version format. |
| 37 | +2. Update the release process documentation in `docs/release_process.md`. |
| 38 | +3. Update the `hack/tag-release.sh` script to handle the new versioning scheme. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +## Previous Versioning Scheme |
| 41 | + |
| 42 | +For reference, the previous versioning scheme was `vX.Y.Z`. |
| 43 | +* The major version `X` was always `0`. |
| 44 | +* The minor version `Y` was incremented for releases with significant new features. |
| 45 | +* The patch version `Z` was used for smaller features and bug fixes. |
| 46 | + |
| 47 | +This model did not provide a clear link to the supported Kubernetes version, making it difficult for users to determine compatibility. We will have a branch named release-pre-1.34 so we can keep track of changes that are used as hotfixes for 0.8.21 and below releases. |
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