ROS Resources: Documentation | Support | Discussion Forum | Index | Service Status | ros @ Robotics Stack Exchange
Ask Your Question

Revision history [back]

click to hide/show revision 1
initial version

answered 2013-07-08 14:47:28 -0500

joq gravatar image

In practice, a "freeze" means that core ROS components may not make any more API changes for that release.

There may still be bug fixes, but they should not disrupt the higher-level packages that depend on them.

In practice, a "freeze" means that core ROS components may not make any more API changes for that release.

There may still be bug fixes, but they should not disrupt the higher-level packages that depend on them.

Update: "Freeze" is mainly a system integration concept, commonly used by Linux distros, and not usually required at the level of a single open source package.

ROS releases many packages, and must provide a scaled-down version of the system integration requirements of a full Linux distro. In former releases we had concepts of "first-freeze" (for low-level interfaces) and "final-freeze" (for everything in the release).

Once an API is frozen, it should not change until the following distro. Sometimes exceptions are made, occasionally for good reasons, but usually because some developer did not understand the burdens of system integration.