{"id":116753,"date":"2025-01-11T00:17:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T00:17:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/?p=116753"},"modified":"2025-04-16T00:05:18","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T00:05:18","slug":"wordpress-6-8-release-squad-timeline-and-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2025\/01\/11\/wordpress-6-8-release-squad-timeline-and-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress 6.8: Release Squad, Timeline, and Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thank you to all who <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2024\/11\/21\/wordpress-6-8-call-for-volunteers\/\">volunteered as interested<\/a> in serving on the WordPress 6.8 release squad! After collecting all of the volunteers, reviewing active initiatives and tickets currently in the milestone, contributor availability in various areas, and planned events or holidays the following squad, timeline, and focus has been assembled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Release Squad<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Release Lead<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>Release Lead<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>The community member ultimately responsible for the Release.<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/matt\/\">Matt Mullenweg<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Coordination \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/jeffpaul\/\">Jeffrey Paul<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/michelleames\/\">Michelle Frechette<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tech Leads \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/joemcgill\/\">Joe McGill<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/desrosj\/\">Jonathan Desrosiers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/mamaduka\/\">George Mamadashvili<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Triage<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>triage<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Lead \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/audrasjb\/\">Jb Audras<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Design Lead \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/karmatosed\/\">Tammie Lister<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Performance Lead \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/flixos90\/\">Felix Arntz<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test Lead \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/krupajnanda\/\">Krupa Nanda<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This squad <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2024\/08\/14\/wordpress-6-7-release-squad-ready\/\">continues the experiment that started in 6.7<\/a> of merging the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/handbook\/about\/release-cycle\/wordpress-release-team-and-focus-leads\/#marcomms-marketing-and-communications-lead\">MarComms (Marketing and Communications) Lead<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/handbook\/about\/release-cycle\/wordpress-release-team-and-focus-leads\/#release-co-ordinator\">Release Coordination<\/a> in order to gather more feedback on that experiment. This can change during the process for future releases if needed.\u00a0 The squad is also a bit smaller than usual because of this release being a polish and <span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>bug<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>bug<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority.<\/span><\/span><\/span> fix release. Also of note, the <span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Core<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>Core<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.<\/span><\/span><\/span> Tech Lead and Editor Tech Lead roles have been combined into a single \u201cTech Leads\u201d role as part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2024\/07\/22\/aligning-committer-level-access-across-the-code-base\/\">continued initiative to support a more closely coordinated effort<\/a> across <span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Gutenberg<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>Gutenberg<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses \u2018blocks\u2019 to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc.\r<a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/gutenberg\/\">https:\/\/wordpress.org\/gutenberg\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> and Core.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/jorbin\/\">Aaron Jorbin<\/a> has volunteered to continue managing tickets and will organize minor releases as necessary for the remainder of the 6.8 release cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Release Timeline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a reminder, here are a few of the key milestones for the release:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Beta<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>Beta<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.<\/span><\/span><\/span> 1: <\/strong>March 4, 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Release Candidate<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>release candidate<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see <a href=\"#alpha-beta\">alpha (beta)<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span> 1:<\/strong> March 25, 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>General Release:<\/strong> April 15, 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please refer to the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/6-8\/\">WordPress 6.8 Development Cycle page<\/a> for the full release schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Release Focus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After evaluating the current active initiatives, there will likely be fewer features ready to ship when compared to other recent major releases. As a result, 6.8 will focus primarily on being a polish and bug fix release. New features will be considered if deemed reasonably ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A WordPress release is put together by the entire community and the release squad only represents a fraction of the contributors to a release. If you are looking to get involved, please join the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/core\/\" class=\"tag\"><span class=\"tag-prefix\">#<\/span>core<\/a> channel in <span tabindex='0' class='glossary-item-container'>Slack<span class='glossary-item-hidden-content'><span class='glossary-item-header'>Slack<\/span> <span class='glossary-item-description'>Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform <a href=\"https:\/\/slack.com\/\">https:\/\/slack.com\/<\/a>. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/chat\/\">https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/chat\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> where there are weekly chats on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/worldclock\/fixedtime.html?iso=20250115T2000\"><abbr class=\"date\" title=\"2025-01-15T20:00:00+00:00\">Wednesday at 20:00 UTC<\/abbr><\/a> and bi-weekly new contributor onboarding meetings on the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/meetings\/#core\">2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at 19:00 UTC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\">Props <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/jorbin\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>jorbin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/joemcgill\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>joemcgill<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/jeffpaul\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>jeffpaul<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/marybaum\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>marybaum<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/4thhubbard\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>4thhubbard<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/davidbaumwald\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>davidbaumwald<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/courane01\/\" class=\"mention\"><span class=\"mentions-prefix\">@<\/span>courane01<\/a> for prepublish review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n<a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/6-8\/\" class=\"tag\"><span class=\"tag-prefix\">#<\/span>6-8<\/a><nav class='o2-post-footer-actions'><ul class='o2-post-footer-action-row'><\/ul><div class='o2-post-footer-action-likes'><\/div><ul class='o2-post-footer-action-row'><\/ul><\/nav>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thank you to all who volunteered as interested in serving on the WordPress 6.8 release squad! After collecting all of the volunteers, reviewing active initiatives and tickets currently in the milestone, contributor availability in various areas, and planned events or holidays the following squad, timeline, and focus has been assembled. Release Squad This squad continues [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4552240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1175,1172],"tags":[5669,2325],"class_list":["post-116753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-updates","tag-6-8","tag-core","mentions-4thhubbard","mentions-courane01","mentions-davidbaumwald","mentions-jeffpaul","mentions-joemcgill","mentions-jorbin","mentions-marybaum","author-desrosj"],"revision_note":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2AvED-un7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4552240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116753"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116772,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116753\/revisions\/116772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}