The feature development phase is a time of rapid development and innovation. Work is normally done on Mercurial 'tip'. During the feature development phase, Mercurial is the only way to access the work in progress. Before updates are committed to Mercurial, they should be proven to compile on at least one architecture and pass the test suite ('make distcheck').

Entry Criteria: There is a plan for feature development.

Exit Criteria: Test suite passes on at least one machine.

The snapshot phase is entered when it is decided that the work is stable enough for non-developers to test. API and user interfaces should be stable before the snapshot phase begins in order to avoid confusion. Snapshot development is done on Mercurial 'tip'. Snapshot packages are identified by the date of the snapshot, and no Mercurial branching or tagging is performed to support the snapshot.

Entry Criteria: Interfaces are stable, and code compiles and runs on multiple architectures.

Exit Criteria: Code is release quality. The test suite must show 100% completion for Q:8 and Q:16 quantum depths on at least three operating environments.

The Beta phase (usually only occurring at the beginning of a major release cycle) is entered when the work is feature complete, the package passes all tests, and it is considered time for versioned releases. As the first step of entering the beta phase, a release branch is created off of the trunk to support change sets for the release. The purpose of the beta phase is to wring out any remaining bugs prior to release. When a beta package is prepared, a release tag is applied to the associated release branch in Mercurial.

Entry Criteria: Code is release quality.. The test suite must show 100% completion for Q:8 and Q:16 quantum depths on at least three operating environments.

Exit Criteria: The test suite must show 100% completion for Q:8, Q:16, and Q:32 quantum depths on at least three operating environments. The current beta package is determined to be sufficiently flawless for a final release.

The release phase is entered when the most recent Beta (or snapshot) is considered to be of acceptable quality for a release or bug-fixes have been prepared based on a previous release. At this time, a formal release tag is applied to the release branch, and release packages are created. Once a release tag has been applied to a release branch, that release branch is considered to be in release state and may only be used to prepare additional releases intended to correct bugs found in preceding releases. The initial release on a release branch has a two-digit (i.e. X.X) release designation. Bug-fix releases have a three-digit (i.e. X.X.X) release designation. A release designation may only be used once. If a problem is discovered with the release package, a new release number is assigned to support the corrected release package.

Entry Criteria: The test suite must show 100% completion for Q:8, Q:16, and Q:32 quantum depths on at least three operating environments. The current beta package is determined to be sufficiently flawless for a final release.

Exit Criteria: None