User:Addshore/MediaWiki Stakeholders' Group/Releasing MOU Draft

= Introduction = Wikimedia Foundation staff invest time and resources into preparing twice-yearly MediaWiki releases for third parties and are often hampered in rapidly evolving the MediaWiki codebase by being tied to those releases.

In order to better meet the consumers’ needs the MediaWiki release process is being transitioned from the Wikimedia Foundation to the MediaWiki Stakeholder group

You can read more about the state change in the tech decision forum writeup

This MOU document serves to highlight key responsibilities and requirements from both sides for a smooth transition and continuation of the release process.

= Scope =

What the Wikimedia Foundation will provide the following to the MediaWiki Stakeholder group

 * Documentation of the existing release process / checklist
 * Ability to edit Module:Version on mediawiki.org
 * Access to upload releases to releases.wikimedia.org (releasers-wikimedia group)
 * Key signing
 * Merge rights & branch creation rights for repositories involved in the release
 * Ability to create projects on the Wikimedia Phabricator install
 * Access to security tickets on the Wikimedia Phabricator install (Access_to_Phabricator_Security_Issues)
 * Support for MediaWiki releasing, by those that have released for a long time, for the first Stakeholder run releases

What the MediaWiki Stakeholder group will provide

 * Releases initially following the documented release process / checklist
 * Twice-yearly releases of MediaWiki core & the MediaWiki bundle
 * Tracking of release status on the Wikimedia Foundation Phabricator install
 * Public communication around the releases
 * Monitoring of feedback channels relating to releases (email responses & “mediawiki-releasing” phabricator tag)

What is not covered

 * Incremental wmf.* branches/releases of MediaWiki and extension
 * Releasing of any other MediaWiki related software

Roles
Roles the Wikimedia foundation will fill:


 * Contact person relating to the MediaWiki release
 * Security issue contact person

Roles the MediaWiki Stakeholder group will fill:


 * Releaser: Someone that will provide all elements of the scope defined. Primarily making the MediaWiki core and bundle release and communication.
 * The MediaWiki Stakeholder group is free to split parts of the scope between multiple roles if desired, for example a "project manager".

= Draft timeline =


 * 1.37 ran by WMF with mwstake watching
 * 1.38 run by WMF with mwstake watching
 * 1.39? run by mwstake, aided and watched by WMF
 * 1.40? run by mwstake, with WMF being hands off

Pending the documentation of the decision from the tech decision forum

= To be defined = Some things are still left to be defined:


 * Interactions around security releases
 * The connection between MediaWiki releases and the weekly Wikimedia train snapshots
 * Docker hub “official” mediawiki images

= Updates to the MOU = This MOU is currently in a draft state and can be changed at any time.

It is being reviewed by the Wikimedia Foundation and MediaWiki Stakeholder group.