[gmx-developers] GROMACS 2021 beta timeline and 2020.4 point release

[Paul bauer]

Hello @ all gmx-developers,

as we are entering the fourth quarter of the year, we are also entering 
the time for preparing the next major GROMACS release by starting the 
beta phase for it.

The plan is to have the first beta release now at the beginning of 
October, together with the feature freeze and focus on stabilization and 
bug fixing during the rest of the year.
There will be two or three beta versions of GROMACS 2021 during October 
and November, followed by a release candidate in December and the final 
2021 release in mid January next year.

If you haven't uploaded your code for review on Gitlab yet it is now 
almost too late to do, and we ask you to reconsider your changes for the 
2022 release instead to help us focus on the current set of MRs that are 
open.

Also, please don't forget to add your release notes for new features, so 
that users will know what has changed in the new version.

We are also planning to release another point release for the 2020 
branch of GROMACS at the end of September.
Please consider helping us with fixing issues that are targeted at this 
version 
(https://gitlab.com/gromacs/gromacs/-/issues?milestone_title=2020.4) and 
by reviewing the associated MRs 
(https://gitlab.com/gromacs/gromacs/-/merge_requests?milestone_title=2020.4).

Happy coding!

-- 
Paul Bauer, PhD
GROMACS Development Manager
KTH Stockholm, SciLifeLab
0046737308594