Ansible-3.0.0 release candidate 1

[Toshio Kuratomi]

Hi all,

We're happy to announce that the ansible-3.0.0 release candidate 1
package is now available for testing! This update is based on the
ansible-base-2.10.x package just like ansible-2.10 was so the changes
shouldn't be too major. However, it does contain new major versions
of many collections which means that there will be some backwards
incompatible changes in the modules and plugins.

How to get it
-------------

Due to a limitation in pip, if you are upgrading from Ansible 2.9 (or
earlier), you need to uninstall ansible before installing the 3.0.0rc1
version:

```
$ pip uninstall ansible
$ pip install ansible==3.0.0rc1 --user
```

The tar.gz of the release can be found here:

* Ansible 3.0.0rc1
https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/a/ansible/ansible-3.0.0rc1.tar.gz
SHA256: a15dabde2d433766bbeede1435ec1bca7b7a44619b919ddb4e6f8a186053eb43

What's new in Ansible 3.0.0rc1
------------------------------

* The Ansible package has moved to semantic versioning
(https://semver.org/). This standard allows you to tell if a new
version of Ansible contains incompatibilities by looking at the
version number. Read the semver specification for more information.

* The `cisco.nxos`, `community.crypto`, `community.docker`,
`community.general`, `community.network`, and `community.sops`
collections had multiple modules updated to specify that the
parameters should not be logged as they could contain secret
information. Collectively, these problems are listed in the Common
Vulnerabilities database as CVE-2021-20191, CVE-2020-25646,
CVE-2021-20180, and CVE-2021-20178

* Collections which have opted into being a part of the
Ansible-3.0.0rc1 unified changelog will have an entry on this page:
https://github.com/ansible-community/ansible-build-data/blob/main/3/CHANGELOG-v3.rst

* For collections which have not opted into the unified changelog,
consult the list of included collections in the link below and check
their entry on https://galaxy.ansible.com for information about their
changes.
* https://github.com/ansible-community/ansible-build-data/blob/main/3/ansible-3.0.0rc1.deps

* You can find more information for those on
https://galaxy.ansible.com/. For instance, the community.crypto
collection listed in the ansible-3.0.0rc1.deps file has a galaxy page
at https://galaxy.ansible.com/community/crypto/

* Changelog for ansible-base-2.10.5 which this release of ansible
installs: https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/stable-2.10/changelogs/CHANGELOG-v2.10.rst

What's the schedule for new Ansible releases after 3.0.0rc1?
-------------------------------------------------------------------

* Except for ansible-2.9.x, older versions of ansible are not seeing
maintenance releases. If there is a desire for maintenance releases
of older versions, drop by a Community Working Group Meeting to
discuss how you can help. (
https://github.com/ansible/community/tree/main/meetings#wednesdays )

* Since we have not updated the ansible-base major version in this
release, we decided that a quick release schedule was preferred. If no
blockers are discovered, Ansible-3.0.0 final will happen on February
16, 2021.

* Minor releases of ansible-3.0.0 will be released approximately every
three weeks. Since we're now using semantic versioning, these new
releases will be 3.1.0, 3.2.0, etc. They will contain bugfixes and
new features but no backwards incompatibilities.


Porting Help
-------------

There's a unified porting guide for collections which have opted-in.
You can find that at:
https://github.com/ansible/ansible/blob/devel/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_3.rst


Thanks for testing!
-Toshio Kuratomi

[Toshio Kuratomi]

Hi all,

Just a brief update on the Ansible-3.0.0 release schedule. We've been
getting feedback that the switch to semantic versioning of the Ansible
package is confusing to people so we're putting together some
information on that to go out with the release. This might take a few
extra days so at yesterday's Community IRC meeting we voted to allow a
slip to Thursday, February, 18th if we needed it.

I just didn't want anyone to be surprised if Ansible-3.0.0 shows up a
few days late!

Thanks,
-Toshio