Version 6 - roadmap

[niccokunzmann]

We would like to release version 6 soon.
In this issue, I propose a plan and gather your ideas and requirements for what that big version change means.

What to include:

• Create a last 5.x release before Zoneinfo #623
• Merge Zoneinfo #623, finish Transition from pytz to zoneinfo #609
• Create a 5.x branch
• Go through all the issues and list those related and required here
• drop python<=3.7 support #634
• Rename branch master to main #627
• drop the claim that we maintain 4.x
  • Release with fixes to the 4.x branch #459
  • Drop claim to support for Python below 3.7 #513
• remove is_broken .attribute for .errors attribute #424
• Which RFC is icalendar attempting to implement? #278 - easy
• LocalTimezone and FixedOffset are no longer useful #67
• Make sure people understand what changes: The functionality is extended!
• Transition from pytz to zoneinfo #609

Related:

• Support Python typing #395
• Datetimes with timezones from dateutil.tz badly supported #336

[niccokunzmann]

This is on the roadmap:

• generate a warning if pytz is installed and how to make icalendar use pytz.
  • in setup.py?
  • in icalendar.__init__?
  • not at all?
• Create a release alpha or stable?

@thet - How would you perceive a good transition process?

My bit:

With my libraries, I say: install icalendar with a fixed major version so that I can be sure that compatibility is there.
I also increase the major version with any breaking change.

• We should document that one should install icalendar==6.* - fix version of icalendar during install to major version #660

[stevepiercy]

I think we should use alphas for 6 now. That clearly communicates that (1) there are changes in the release that may not stable and feedback is desired, (2) makes it easier to install a specific alpha version, and (3) shows that there is release activity. There may be more good reasons.

I use zest.releaser for releasing. The maintainer is the release manager of Plone. It's well designed, and catches things that I might miss.

[niccokunzmann]

I use zest.releaser for releasing. The maintainer is the release manager of Plone. It's well designed, and catches things that I might miss.

I had a look at the documentation and I do not know how it works. I think, I could open an issue or contribute documentation.
The manual way that is described here: https://icalendar.readthedocs.io/en/latest/maintenance.html also means that if I die, people can just follow it and know what to look out for.

Thanks for the suggestion though... I should try it.
I will wait a bit longer for @thet to give some input and #660 to be merged.

[stevepiercy]

Yeah, usage is buried under available commands: https://zestreleaser.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview.html#available-commands.

It would be good to show the interface in the usage documentation instead of a wall of text. It essentially asks a series of questions, providing sensible defaults that you can accept or edit such as [Y/n] or 0.0.8, and holding your hand through the release process.