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| -rw-r--r-- | src/doc/trpl/SUMMARY.md | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | src/doc/trpl/release-channels.md | 45 |
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diff --git a/src/doc/trpl/SUMMARY.md b/src/doc/trpl/SUMMARY.md index 03350de4af5..f3a3fd635e4 100644 --- a/src/doc/trpl/SUMMARY.md +++ b/src/doc/trpl/SUMMARY.md @@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ * [Error Handling](error-handling.md) * [FFI](ffi.md) * [Borrow and AsRef](borrow-and-asref.md) + * [Release Channels](release-channels.md) * [Syntax and Semantics](syntax-and-semantics.md) * [Variable Bindings](variable-bindings.md) * [Functions](functions.md) diff --git a/src/doc/trpl/release-channels.md b/src/doc/trpl/release-channels.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..03e65539a20 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/doc/trpl/release-channels.md @@ -0,0 +1,45 @@ +% Release Channels + +The Rust project uses a concept called ‘release channels’ to manage releases. +It’s important to understand this process to choose which version of Rust +your project should use. + +# Overview + +There are three channels for Rust releases: + +* Nightly +* Beta +* Stable + +New nightly releases are created once a day. Every six weeks, the latest +nightly release is promoted to ‘Beta’. At that point, it will only receive +patches to fix serious errors. Six weeks later, the beta is promoted to +‘Stable’, and becomes the next release of `1.x`. + +This process happens in parallel. So every six weeks, on the same day, +nightly goes to beta, beta goes to stable. When `1.x` is released, at +the same time, `1.(x + 1)-beta` is released, and the nightly becomes the +first version of `1.(x + 2)-nightly`. + +# Choosing a version + +Generally speaking, unless you have a specific reason, you should be using the +stable release channel. These releases are intended for a general audience. + +However, depending on your interest in Rust, you may choose to use nightly +instead. The basic tradeoff is this: in the nightly channel, you can use +unstable, new Rust features. However, unstable features are subject to change, +and so any new nightly release may break your code. If you use the stable +release, you cannot use experimental features, but the next release of Rust +will not cause significant issues through breaking changes. + +# Helping the ecosystem through CI + +What about beta? We encourage all Rust users who use the stable release channel +to also test against the beta channel in their continuous integration systems. +This will help alert the team in case there’s an accidental regression. + +Additionally, testing against nightly can catch regressions even sooner, and so +if you don’t mind a third build, we’d appreciate testing against all channels. + |