- # Breaking Changes
-
- This document describes QMK's Breaking Change process. A Breaking Change is any change which modifies how QMK behaves in a way that in incompatible or potentially dangerous. We limit these changes so that users can have confidence that updating their QMK tree will not break their keymaps.
-
- This also includes any keyboard moves within the repository.
-
- The breaking change period is when we will merge PRs that change QMK in dangerous or unexpected ways. There is a built-in period of testing so we are confident that any problems caused are rare or unable to be predicted.
-
- Practically, this means QMK merges the `develop` branch into the `master` branch on a 3-month cadence.
-
- ## What has been included in past Breaking Changes?
-
- * [2024 Feb 25](ChangeLog/20240225.md)
- * [2023 Nov 26](ChangeLog/20231126.md)
- * [2023 Aug 27](ChangeLog/20230827.md)
- * [Older Breaking Changes](breaking_changes_history.md)
-
- ## When is the next Breaking Change?
-
- The next Breaking Change is scheduled for May 26, 2024.
-
- ### Important Dates
-
- * 2024 Feb 25 - `develop` is tagged with a new release version. Each push to `master` is subsequently merged to `develop` by GitHub actions.
- * 2024 Apr 28 - `develop` closed to new PRs.
- * 2024 Apr 28 - Call for testers.
- * 2024 May 5 - Last day for merges -- after this point `develop` is locked for testing and accepts only bugfixes
- * 2024 May 19 - `develop` is locked, only critical bugfix PRs merged.
- * 2024 May 23 - `master` is locked, no PRs merged.
- * 2024 May 26 - Merge `develop` to `master`.
- * 2024 May 26 - `master` is unlocked. PRs can be merged again.
-
- ## What changes will be included?
-
- To see a list of breaking changes merge candidates you can look at the [`core` label](https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware/pulls?q=is%3Aopen+label%3Acore+is%3Apr). This label is applied whenever a PR is raised or changed, but only if the PR includes changes to core areas of QMK Firmware. A PR with that label applied is not guaranteed to be merged in the current cycle. New changes might be added between now and when `develop` is closed, and it is generally the responsibility of the submitter to handle conflicts. There is also another label used by QMK Collaborators -- `breaking_change_YYYYqN` -- which signifies to maintainers that it is a strong candidate for inclusion, and should be prioritized for review.
-
- If you want your breaking change to be included in this round you need to create a PR and have it accepted by QMK Collaborators before `develop` closes. After `develop` closes, new submissions will be deferred to the next breaking changes cycle.
-
- The simpler your PR is, the easier it is for maintainers to review, thus a higher likelihood of a faster merge. Large PRs tend to require a lot of attention, refactoring, and back-and-forth with subsequent reviews -- with other PRs getting merged in the meantime larger unmerged PRs are far more likely to be susceptible to conflicts.
-
- Criteria for acceptance:
-
- * The PR is complete and ready to merge
- * GitHub checks for the PR are green whenever possible
- * A "red" check may be disregarded by maintainers if the items flagged are unrelated to the change proposed in the PR
- * Modifications to existing files should not need to add license headers to pass lint, for instance.
- * If it's not directly related to your PR's functionality, prefer avoiding making a change.
-
- Strongly suggested:
-
- * The PR has a ChangeLog file describing the changes under `<qmk_firmware>/docs/Changelog/20240526`.
- * This should be in Markdown format, with a name in the format `PR12345.md`, substituting the digits for your PRs ID.
- * One strong recommendation that the ChangeLog document matches the PR description on GitHub, so as to ensure traceability.
-
- ## Checklists
-
- This section documents various processes we use when running the Breaking Changes process.
-
- ### 4 Weeks Before Merge
-
- * `develop` is now closed to new PRs, only fixes for current PRs may be merged
- * Post call for testers: message `@Breaking Changes Updates` on `#qmk_firmware` in Discord:
- * `@Breaking Changes Updates -- Hey folks, last day for functional PRs to be raised against qmk_firmware for this breaking changes cycle is today.`
-
- ### 2 Weeks Before Merge
-
- * `develop` is now closed to existing PR merges, only bugfixes for previous merges may be included
- * Post call for testers: message `@Breaking Changes Updates` on `#qmk_firmware` in Discord.
- * `@Breaking Changes Updates -- Hey folks, last day for functional PRs to be merged into qmk_firmware for this breaking changes cycle is today. After that, we're handling bugfixes only.`
-
- ### 1 Week Before Merge
-
- * `develop` is now closed to PR merges, only critical bugfixes may be included
- * Announce that master will be closed from <2 Days Before> to <Day of Merge> -- message `@Breaking Changes Updates` on `#qmk_firmware` in Discord:
- * `@Breaking Changes Updates -- Hey folks, last day for functional PRs to be merged into qmk_firmware for this breaking changes cycle is today. After that, we're handling bugfixes only.`
-
- ### 2 Days Before Merge
-
- * `master` is now closed to PR merges
- * Announce that master is closed for 2 days
- * `@Breaking Changes Updates -- Hey folks, the master branch of qmk_firmware is now locked for the next couple of days while we prepare to merge the newest batch of changes from develop.`
-
- ### Day Of Merge
-
- * `qmk_firmware` git commands
- * `git checkout develop`
- * `git pull --ff-only`
- * Edit `readme.md`
- * Remove the notes about `develop`
- * Roll up the ChangeLog into one file.
- * `git commit -m 'Merge point for <DATE> Breaking Change'`
- * `git push upstream develop`
- * GitHub Actions
- * Create a PR for `develop`
- * **Turn off 'Automatically delete head branches' for the repository** -- confirm with @qmk/directors that it is done before continuing
- * `qmk_firmware` git commands
- * `git checkout master`
- * `git pull --ff-only`
- * `git merge --no-ff develop`
- * `git tag <next_version>` # Prevent the breakpoint tag from confusing version incrementing
- * `git push upstream <next_version>`
- * `git push upstream master`
-
- ## Post-merge operations
-
- ### Updating the `develop` branch
-
- This happens immediately after the previous `develop` branch is merged to `master`.
-
- * `qmk_firmware` git commands
- * `git checkout master`
- * `git pull --ff-only`
- * `git checkout develop`
- * `git pull --ff-only`
- * `git merge --no-ff master`
- * Edit `readme.md`
- * Add a big notice at the top that this is a testing branch. See previous revisions of the `develop` branch.
- * Include a link to this document
- * `git commit -m 'Branch point for <DATE> Breaking Change'`
- * `git tag breakpoint_<YYYY>_<MM>_<DD>`
- * `git push upstream breakpoint_<YYYY>_<MM>_<DD>`
- * `git push upstream develop`
-
- * All submodules under `lib` now need to be checked against their QMK-based forks:
- * `git submodule foreach git log -n1`
- * Validate each submodule SHA1 matches the qmk fork, e.g. for ChibiOS:
- * Go to [qmk/ChibiOS](https://github.com/qmk/ChibiOS)
- * Compare the commit hash in the above output to the commit hash in the repository
- * If there's a mismatch, that repository needs to have its `qmk-master` branch updated to match (otherwise Configurator won't work):
- * `cd lib/chibios`
- * `git fetch --all`
- * `git checkout qmk-master`
- * `git reset --hard <commit hash>`
- * `git push origin qmk-master --force-with-lease`
-
- * Announce that both `master` and `develop` are now unlocked -- message `@Breaking Changes Updates` on `#qmk_firmware` in Discord:
- * `@Breaking Changes Updates -- Hey folks, develop has now been merged into master -- newest batch of changes are now available for everyone to use!`
-
- * (Optional) [update ChibiOS + ChibiOS-Contrib on `develop`](chibios_upgrade_instructions.md)
-
-
- ### Set up Discord events for the next cycle
-
- * Update this file with the new dates: `docs/breaking_changes.md`
- * Create Events on the QMK Discord - "Somewhere Else" => "GitHub":
- * Event #1:
- | Field | Value |
- |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
- | Topic | Last `develop` functionality PRs to be raised |
- | Start Date | ((5 weeks before merge)), 12:00am |
- | End Date | ((4 weeks before merge)), 12:00am |
- | Description | This is the last window for functional PRs to be raised against `develop` for the current breaking changes cycle. After ((4 weeks before merge)), any new PRs targeting `develop` will be deferred to the next cycle. |
- * Event #2:
- | Field | Value |
- |-------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
- | Topic | Last `develop` functionality PRs to be merged |
- | Start Date | ((4 weeks before merge)), 12:00am |
- | End Date | ((2 weeks before merge)), 12:00am |
- | Description | This is the last window for functional PRs to be merged into `develop` for the current breaking changes cycle. After ((2 weeks before merge)), only bugfix PRs targeting `develop` will be considered for merge. |
- * Event #3:
- | Field | Value |
- |-------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
- | Topic | `develop` closed for merges |
- | Start Date | ((2 weeks before merge)), 12:00am |
- | End Date | ((day of merge)), 12:00am |
- | Description | This is the deadline for functionality bugfix PRs to be merged into `develop` for the current breaking changes cycle. After ((1 week before merge)), only critical bugfix PRs targeting `develop` will be considered for merge. |
- * Event #4:
- | Field | Value |
- |-------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
- | Topic | `master` closed for merges |
- | Start Date | ((2 days before merge)), 12:00am |
- | End Date | ((day of merge)), 12:00am |
- | Description | This is the period that no PRs are to be merged to `master`, so that the merge of `develop` into `master` is stable. |
- * Event #5:
- | Field | Value |
- |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
- | Topic | `develop` merges to `master` |
- | Start Date | ((day of merge)), 12:00am |
- | End Date | ((day of merge)), 11:45pm |
- | Description | At some point, QMK will merge `develop` into `master` and everyone will be able to reap the benefits of the newest batch of functionality. |
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