Release schedule policy

A public calendar showing the upcoming Helm releases can be found here.

Helm versions are expressed as , where is the major version, is the minor version, and is the patch version, following terminology.

Patch releases provide users with bug fixes and security fixes. They do not contain new features.

A patch release to fix a high priority regression or security issue can be done whenever needed.

A patch release will be cancelled for any of the following reasons:

• if the patch release date falls within one week before the first release candidate (RC1) of an upcoming minor release
• if the patch release date falls within four weeks following a minor release

Minor releases contain security and bug fixes as well as new features. They are backwards compatible with respect to the API and the CLI usage.

Extra minor releases can be done if needed but will not affect the timeline of an announced future release, unless the announced release is less than 7 days away.

At the same time as a release is published, the date of the next minor release will be announced and posted to Helm’s main web page.

Major releases contain breaking changes. Such releases are rare but are sometimes necessary to allow helm to continue to evolve in important new directions.