Release Early, Release Often and Release on Time. An Empirical Case Study of Release Management

The dictum of “Release early, release often.” by Eric Raymond as the Linux modus operandi highlights the importance of release management in open source software development. Nevertheless, there are very few empirical studies addressing release management in open source software development. It is already known that most open source software communities adopt either feature-based or time-based release strategies. Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages that are context-specific. Recent research reported that many prominent open source software projects have moved from feature-based to time-based releases. In this longitudinal case study, we narrate how OpenStack shifted towards a liberal six-month release cycle. If prior research discussed why projects should adopt time-based releases and how they can adopt such a strategy, we discuss how OpenStack adapted its software development processes, its organizational design and its tools toward a hybrid release management strategy — a strive for balancing the benefits and drawbacks of feature-based and time-based release strategies.