Since version 1.0, Django’s release numbering works as follows:
\nVersions are numbered in the form A.B or A.B.C.
A.B is the feature release version number. Each version will be mostly\nbackwards compatible with the previous release. Exceptions to this rule will\nbe listed in the release notes.
C is the patch release version number, which is incremented for bugfix\nand security releases. These releases will be 100% backwards-compatible with\nthe previous patch release. The only exception is when a security or data\nloss issue can’t be fixed without breaking backwards-compatibility. If this\nhappens, the release notes will provide detailed upgrade instructions.
Before a new feature release, we’ll make alpha, beta, and release candidate\nreleases. These are of the form A.B alpha/beta/rc N, which means the\nNth alpha/beta/release candidate of version A.B.
In git, each Django release will have a tag indicating its version number,\nsigned with the Django release key. Additionally, each release series has its\nown branch, called stable/A.B.x, and bugfix/security releases will be\nissued from those branches.
For more information about how the Django project issues new releases for\nsecurity purposes, please see our security policies.
\nFeature releases (A.B, A.B+1, etc.) will happen roughly every eight months\n– see release process for details. These releases will contain new\nfeatures, improvements to existing features, and such.
\nPatch releases (A.B.C, A.B.C+1, etc.) will be issued as needed, to fix\nbugs and/or security issues.
\nThese releases will be 100% compatible with the associated feature release,\nunless this is impossible for security reasons or to prevent data loss.\nSo the answer to «should I upgrade to the latest patch release?» will always\nbe «yes.»
\nCertain feature releases will be designated as long-term support (LTS)\nreleases. These releases will get security and data loss fixes applied for\na guaranteed period of time, typically three years.
\nSee the download page for the releases that have been designated for\nlong-term support.
\nStarting with Django 2.0, version numbers will use a loose form of semantic\nversioning such that each version following an LTS will\nbump to the next «dot zero» version. For example: 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 (LTS), 3.0,\n3.1, 3.2 (LTS), etc.
\nSemVer makes it easier to see at a glance how compatible releases are with each\nother. It also helps to anticipate when compatibility shims will be removed.\nIt’s not a pure form of SemVer as each feature release will continue to have a\nfew documented backwards incompatibilities where a deprecation path isn’t\npossible or not worth the cost. Also, deprecations started in an LTS release\n(X.2) will be dropped in a non-dot-zero release (Y.1) to accommodate our policy\nof keeping deprecation shims for at least two feature releases. Read on to the\nnext section for an example.
\nA feature release may deprecate certain features from previous releases. If a\nfeature is deprecated in feature release A.x, it will continue to work in all\nA.x versions (for all versions of x) but raise warnings. Deprecated features\nwill be removed in the B.0 release, or B.1 for features deprecated in the last\nA.x feature release to ensure deprecations are done over at least 2 feature\nreleases.
\nSo, for example, if we decided to start the deprecation of a function in\nDjango 4.2:
\nDjango 4.2 will contain a backwards-compatible replica of the function which\nwill raise a RemovedInDjango51Warning.
Django 5.0 (the version that follows 4.2) will still contain the\nbackwards-compatible replica.
Django 5.1 will remove the feature outright.
The warnings are silent by default. You can turn on display of these warnings\nwith the python -Wd option.
A more generic example:
\nX.0
X.1
X.2 LTS
Y.0: Drop deprecation shims added in X.0 and X.1.
Y.1: Drop deprecation shims added in X.2.
Y.2 LTS: No deprecation shims dropped (while Y.0 is no longer supported,\nthird-party apps need to maintain compatibility back to X.2 LTS to ease\nLTS to LTS upgrades).
Z.0: Drop deprecation shims added in Y.0 and Y.1.
See also the Deprecating a feature guide.
\nAt any moment in time, Django’s developer team will support a set of releases to\nvarying levels. See the supported versions section of the download\npage for the current state of support for each version.
\nThe current development branch main will get new features and bug fixes\nrequiring non-trivial refactoring.
Patches applied to the main branch must also be applied to the last feature\nrelease branch, to be released in the next patch release of that feature\nseries, when they fix critical problems:
\nSecurity issues.
Data loss bugs.
Crashing bugs.
Major functionality bugs in new features of the latest stable release.
Regressions from older versions of Django introduced in the current release\nseries.
The rule of thumb is that fixes will be backported to the last feature\nrelease for bugs that would have prevented a release in the first place\n(release blockers).
\nSecurity fixes and data loss bugs will be applied to the current main branch,\nthe last two feature release branches, and any other supported long-term\nsupport release branches.
Documentation fixes generally will be more freely backported to the last\nrelease branch. That’s because it’s highly advantageous to have the docs for\nthe last release be up-to-date and correct, and the risk of introducing\nregressions is much less of a concern.
As a concrete example, consider a moment in time halfway between the release of\nDjango 5.1 and 5.2. At this point in time:
\nFeatures will be added to the development main branch, to be released as\nDjango 5.2.
Critical bug fixes will be applied to the stable/5.1.x branch, and\nreleased as 5.1.1, 5.1.2, etc.
Security fixes and bug fixes for data loss issues will be applied to\nmain and to the stable/5.1.x, stable/5.0.x, and\nstable/4.2.x (LTS) branches. They will trigger the release of 5.1.1,\n5.0.5, 4.2.8, etc.
Documentation fixes will be applied to main, and, if easily backported, to\nthe latest stable branch, 5.1.x.
Django uses a time-based release schedule, with feature releases every eight\nmonths or so.
\nAfter each feature release, the release manager will publish a timeline for the\nnext feature release. The timeline for an upcoming feature release can be found\nin the corresponding wiki roadmap page, e.g.\nhttps://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/Version6.0Roadmap.
\nWork begins on the feature release A.B after the feature freeze of the\nprevious release, i.e. when the stable/A.B-1.x branch is forked.
You can find the current branch under active development in the\nDjango release process on Trac.
\nAll major and minor features, including deprecations and breaking changes, must\nbe merged by the feature freeze. Any features not done by this point will be\ndeferred to the next feature release.
\nAt this point, the stable/A.B.x branch will be forked from main.
After the alpha, all bug fixes merged in main are also backported to\nstable/A.B.x. Refactors are backported at the discretion of the merger.\nMergers will be more and more conservative with backports, to avoid introducing\nregressions.
In parallel to this phase, main can continue to receive new features, to be\nreleased in the A.B+1 cycle.
If there is still a consistent stream of release blockers coming in at the\nplanned release candidate date, a beta 2 will be released to encourage further\ntesting and the release candidate date will be pushed out ~1 month.
\nThe release candidate marks the string freeze, and it happens at least two\nweeks before the final release. Translators can then submit updated\ntranslations for inclusion in the final release. After this point, new\ntranslatable strings must not be added.
\nAfter the release candidate, only release blockers and documentation fixes are\nbackported.
\nIdeally, the final release will ship two weeks after the last release\ncandidate.
\nIf there are major bugs still being found 2 weeks after the release candidate,\nthere will be a decision on how to proceed (likely another release candidate\nwould be issued and the final release date will be pushed out).
\nAfter a feature release (e.g. A.B), the previous release will go into bugfix\nmode.
\nThe branch for the previous feature release (e.g. stable/A.B-1.x) will\ninclude bugfixes. Critical bugs fixed on main must also be fixed on the\nbugfix branch; this means that commits need to cleanly separate bug fixes from\nfeature additions. The developer who commits a fix to main will be\nresponsible for also applying the fix to the current bugfix branch.