Author: Don Porter <[email protected]>
State: Draft
Type: Informative
Vote: Pending
Created: 10-Feb-2025
Post-History:
Abstract
This TIP presents an aspirational plan for patch releases of Tcl 8.6 and Tcl 9.0 and development releases leading to Tcl 9.1.0.
Rationale
A public declaration of plans for releases of Tcl should be helpful to many people in many roles in the Tcl world. Developers can plan their contributions of bug fixes and new features with a sense of when their contributions will be available in a release. Developers with ambitious projects can better judge whether they can complete their work in time for a Tcl 9.1 feature freeze, or should plan early on to aim for completion in a later release cycle. Reporters of bugs will have a better sense when a Tcl release will contain their bug fix. Redistributors of Tcl will be able to anticipate conflicting calendars, and raise the conflict upstream with the Tcl developers. Developers of packages, especially those distributed with Tcl, will have target dates for delivering bug fixes and revisions to keep current with Tcl.
Description
The tables below propose a release calendar for Tcl. The primary aim is to complete development of Tcl 9.1.0 by September 2026. The number and pace of releases are believed to be achievable with available volunteer efforts. The pace of releases is believed to be such that it will not overwhelm the interested parties expected to react to each release. The number of Tcl 9.1 development releases is intended to allow review and testing of new features in several stages.
That said, this calendar should not be taken as a binding promise. At any moment, it represents the recorded intention of the team of volunteers making their contributions. Expect updates to this document as events unfold. It should also be noted that whenever circumstances demand a release, a release may happen, whether or not the calendar calls for it.
As presented this is a release calendar for Tcl. The developers of Tk currently expect to make releases in sync with Tcl. Tk development retains the option to diverge from that plan should the need arise. In particular, the opening of development for a 9.1 branch of Tk may lag Tcl 9.1 work if new Tk features are either not present, or are judged suitable for inclusion in Tk 9.0.* patch releases.
Tcl Release Plan for 2025
| MONTH | Releases | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| May | 9.1a0, 9.0.2 | First release of Tcl 9.1 features |
| June | ||
| July | ||
| August | 8.6.17 | |
| September | 9.1a1, 9.0.3 | |
| October | ||
| November | ||
| December |
Tcl Release Plan for 2026
| MONTH | Releases | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| January | 9.1a2, 9.0.4 | |
| February | ||
| March | ||
| April | 8.6.18 | Final Tcl 8.6 release |
| May | 9.1b0, 9.0.5 | Tcl 9.1 Feature Freeze |
| June | ||
| July | 9.1b1 | |
| August | 9.1b2 | |
| September | 9.1.0, 9.0.6 | New stable release sequence |
| October | ||
| November | 9.1.1 | |
| December | 9.0.7 | Final Tcl 9.0 release |
Key Takeaways
This calendar proposes the April 2026 release of Tcl 8.6.18 to be the final maintenance release of Tcl 8.6. This marks a timeframe for the Tcl world to complete its migration to Tcl 9, or to make other arrangements for continued maintenance efforts on the Tcl 8 codebase.
This calendar proposes the December 2026 release of Tcl 9.0.7 to be the final maintenance release of Tcl 9.0. Minor releases should not present compatibility challenges, so quick retirement of the 9.0.* sequence is not expected to be troublesome. Tcl 9.0 users should be able to adopt Tcl 9.1 without difficulty, and keeping the number of development branches small helps use volunteer efforts more effectively.
This calendar proposes the May 2026 release of Tcl 9.1b0, which marks the feature set of Tcl 9.1 as complete. Developers with plans to contribute a feature for Tcl 9.1 should shape their efforts with that in mind. New features expected to be more disruptive, or more in need of review and assessment should target even earlier alpha releases. The option to delay a feature into Tcl 9.2 (or 10.0) should be considered, with assurances that opportunities should arrive in 2027.
Copyright
This document has been placed in the public domain.