There are usually two active branches at any given time:

• the stable branch
• the development branch

Release packages from stable and development branches are linked on the home page.

Between releases, the latest code is always available from our CVS

The stable branch should receive only the most important bugfixes, so that:

1. the development resources are focused on development branch, avoiding porting efforts when possible.
2. the stable branch is kept very stable and hence gurantee a safe upgrade path for everybody

For these reasons, we will fix on the stable branch the following kind of issues:

• bugs with category “security”
• bugs with severity “major” or higher ( for example: deployment stoppers, blank screens, installation issues )
• bugs that are generating a lot of support

if unsure, feel free to ask on the mantisbt-dev mailing list

The development branch (that is, CVS HEAD) is where all the “interesting” things happens; new features and bug fixes are usually applied here first, then tested and ported to the stable branch when deemed necessary.

Whenever the developemnt branch reaches a state coinsidered good enough for becoming the “stable” one, the following happens:

• a new branch is created from CVS HEAD
• a release candidate (RC) is created off this new branch
• the RC branch enters in a “feature freeze” mode (no new features added)
• testing and bug fixing continue on the RC branch until it can be declared stable

During feature freeze, new features can still enter CVS HEAD, but all developers are encouraged to help polishing the RC branch before focusing again on the develpment branch.

At this point __ONLY CRITICAL FIXES_ are applied to the stable branch

At release time:

• the RC branch becomes the new stable branch
• support ends for the old stable branch
• normal develpment resumes on CVS HEAD