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. This warning is silent by\ndefault; you can turn on display of these warnings with the -Wd option\nof Python.
Django 5.0 (the version that follows 4.2) will still contain the\nbackwards-compatible replica. This warning becomes loud by default and\nwill likely be quite annoying.
Django 5.1 will remove the feature outright.
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.
At 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 master will get new features and bug fixes\nrequiring non-trivial refactoring.
Patches applied to the master 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 newly-introduced features.
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 master, the\nlast 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 development master, to be released as Django 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\nmaster 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 master, 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 announce a timeline for\nthe next feature release.
\nEach release cycle consists of three parts:
\nThe first phase of the release process will include figuring out what major\nfeatures to include in the next version. This should include a good deal of\npreliminary work on those features -- working code trumps grand design.
\nMajor features for an upcoming release will be added to the wiki roadmap page,\ne.g. https://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/Version1.9Roadmap.
\nThe second part of the release schedule is the "heads-down" working period.\nUsing the roadmap produced at the end of phase one, we'll all work very hard to\nget everything on it done.
\nAt the end of phase two, any unfinished features will be postponed until the\nnext release.
\nPhase two will culminate with an alpha release. At this point, the\nstable/A.B.x branch will be forked from master.
The last part of a release cycle is spent fixing bugs -- no new features will\nbe accepted during this time. We'll try to release a beta release one month\nafter the alpha and a release candidate one month after the beta.
\nThe release candidate marks the string freeze, and it happens at least two\nweeks before the final release. After this point, new translatable strings\nmust not be added.
\nDuring this phase, committers will be more and more conservative with\nbackports, to avoid introducing regressions. After the release candidate, only\nrelease blockers and documentation fixes should be backported.
\nIn parallel to this phase, master can receive new features, to be released\nin the A.B+1 cycle.
After 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 master 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 master will be\nresponsible for also applying the fix to the current bugfix branch.