Backporting
The grafana/grafana repository has multiple long-lived branches.
The main branch has the most recent code and documentation.
Releases use long-lived branches that include the major and minor versions of the release.
For example, the v9.0.x long-lived release branch contains code and documentation for all patched versions of the major version 9 and minor version 0 of Grafana.
Backporting takes a change from the main branch, and ports it back to an existing long-lived release branch.
During every pull request, each change to the grafana/grafana repository requires a decision about whether or not to backport it.
Backport a change
To backport a change, use the appropriate backport v<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.x label.
You can backport to more than one branch by using multiple labels.
After the pull request is merged, the GitHub bot grafanabot creates a follow-up pull request for each of the backport v<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.x labels.
If grafanabot is unable to automatically backport the changes, it comments on the first pull request with instructions about how to backport the change manually.
In repositories such as grafana/grafana, engineers sometimes create a new branch for a release well before the release has shipped.
If you intend to publish content against an imminent release, check for the existence of a backport label for the upcoming version when filing, and also before merging, and apply the label if it exists or has been added to ensure the content is automatically backported to the upcoming version’s documentation.
If you decide to not backport a change, use the no-backport GitHub label.
When to backport
To decide whether to backport a pull request, use the following decision tree:
flowchart TD
D1{Is the change documenting a new feature?}
D2{Is the feature going to be released in<br>a future version of Grafana that<br>doesn't yet have a release branch?}
D3{Is the change a fix for a typo?}
D4{Is the change a documentation refactoring?}
T1[Add the `no-backport` label.]
T2[Add a backport label for each affected release version.]
T3[Update this flowchart as the decision making process is incomplete.]
T4[Backport the change to release branch for the next version of Grafana.]
D1 -- Yes --> D2
D1 -- No --> D3
D2 -- Yes --> T1
D2 -- No --> T4
D3 -- Yes --> T2
D3 -- No --> D4
D4 -- Yes --> T4
D4 -- No --> T3