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Project Dawn or the end of Aurora

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Sylvestre Ledru

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Apr 18, 2017, 9:10:27 AM4/18/17
to dev-pl...@lists.mozilla.org, dev-pl...@lists.mozilla.org, Firefox Dev, releas...@mozilla.com
As described in the post on the Hacks blog
<https://hacks.mozilla.org/2017/04/simplifying-firefox-release-channels/>,
we are changing the release mechanism of Firefox.


What

In order to address the complexity and cycle length issues, the release
management team, in coordination with Firefox product management and
engineering, is going to remove the Aurora stabilization phasefrom the
cycle.


When

On April 18th, Firefox 55 will remain on Nightly. This means Firefox 55
will remain on Nightly for two full cycles. On June 13th, Firefox 55
will migrate directly from Nightly to Beta.


Why

1.

As originally intended
<https://mozilla.github.io/process-releases/draft/development_overview/>,
Aurora was to be the first stabilization channel having a user base
10x the size of Nightly so as to provide additional user feedback.
This original intent never materialized.

2.

The release cycle time has required that we subvert the model
regularly over the years by uplifting new features to meet market
requirements.


How

*

The stabilization cycle from Nightly to Release will be shortened by
6-8 weeks.

*

A staged rollout mechanism, similar to what we do today with
Release, will be used for the first weeks of Beta.

*

Our engineering and release workflow will continue to have
additional checks and balances rolled out to ensure we ship a high
quality release.

o

We will focus on finding and fixing regressions during the
Nightly cycle and alleviate time pressure to ship to reduce the
400-600 patches currently uplifted to Aurora.

o

A new feature will merge from Nightly to Beta only when it’s
deemed ready, based on pre-established criteria determined by
engineering, product, and product integrity.

o

Tooling such as static analysis, linters, and code coverage will
be integrated into the development process


More?

A detailed FAQ is available on the Release Management blog:
http://release.mozilla.org/firefox/release/2017/04/17/Dawn-Project-FAQ.html

Sylvestre




Go-live



Nightly



Aurora



Beta



Release







2017-03-07



55



54



53



52







2017-04-18



55




54



53







2017-06-13



56




55



54







2017-08-08



57




56



55







2017-10-10



58




57



56







2017-11-14



59




58



57







2018-01-09



60




59



58


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