StarlingX Community,

We have been discussing the RISKS to the STX 9 Release dates for the last few weeks in our TSC meeting.

See https://etherpad.opendev.org/p/stx-cores

The critical path item that can NOT meet the STX 9 Release date is the full Release Verification and Regression testing by the STX Test Project Team.

We have discussed/explored a number of options

· asking whether anyone else in the community can pick up the STX 9 Release Verification and Regression testing effort.

o we have had no feedback from the community on this

· considering releasing a ‘sanity quality’ ONLY STX 9 Release

o but general consensus in tsc/community meeting was that this would be unwise as users of StarlingX would still expect high quality regardless of the sanity-only indication.

· consider deferring the release of STX 9 until Q1 2024 when the STX Test Project Team’s resources free up again and have time to do the full Release Verification and Regression testing

o we have asked community for impact of not delivering Antelope (STX 9 feature) in October/2023

§ we have had no feedback from the community on this

o we have asked community members about impact of deferring the complete STX 9 release to Q1 2024

§ we have had no feedback from the community on this

This email is to inform you that last week, the STX TSC voted on proposal to defer the release of STX 9 until Q1/2024

• ALL TSC members voted +1 to defer

NEXT STEPS:

• "Stake-in-the-Ground" proposal for STX 9 Release date is end-of-March 2024
• ACTION:  Release Team (Ghada) to a) forecast updated milestones based on end-of-march release
                                                                 b) get updated view from feature owners on whether they can meet these milestones
• ACTION: Test Team (Rob) to confirm, based on updated view of feature content, that test milestones can be met based on end-of-march milestone dates

Let us know of any concerns,

STX TSC.