docs: release cadence post (#4329)

Signed-off-by: Carlos Alexandro Becker <caarlos0@users.noreply.github.com>

www/docs/blog/posts/2023-09-27-release-cadence.md

@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+---
+date: 2023-09-27
+slug: release-cadence
+categories:
+  - announcements
+authors:
+  - caarlos0
+---
+
+# Version strategy and release cadence: the future
+
+A couple of weeks ago, I got a couple of complaints about the way GoReleaser
+is being versioned - more precisely, the fact that deprecated options are
+removed in **minor** instead of **major** versions.
+
+Those complaints are valid, and today I'm announcing how I plan to move forward.
+
+## History
+
+Before we do that, I feel like I should explain how we got in this position
+first.
+
+GoReleaser was in a [0ver](https://0ver.org)[^joke] scheme for _almost 5 years_.
+We had a whopping _468 `v0.x.x` releases_.
+Let me repeat: **four hundred and sixty eight v zeroes**.
+
+[^joke]: yes, I know this is kind of a joke.
+
+In fact, `v1` was launched less than 2 years ago, in [November, 2022][v1].
+
+Like many other things, the way we handle deprecations was from that time.
+A time in which GoReleaser never had major releases, because there wasn't
+one: we would add the deprecation notice to the
+[deprecations page][deprecations] and warn about it in the release's output
+if you use any of them, and, after roughly 6 months, remove the deprecated
+option and move on with life.
+
+[Breaking changes are allowed in v0][semver-si4], so, there were no broken
+promises.
+
+On the other hand, `v1` is a _major_ version, so it should not introduce
+breaking changes.
+
+In retrospect, my mistake was never stopping to think about it again after `v1`.
+
+[semver-si4]: https://semver.org/#spec-item-4
+
+## Going forward
+
+Thankfully, I was nudged in the right direction, so, from now on, we'll do
+things properly.
+
+The plan is as follows:
+
+1. We'll have 1 _minor_ release 1-2 months (when we have some material);
+1. Bug fixes will still be released as _patch_ releases in the latest _minor_;
+1. Deprecations will continue to be added in _minor_ releases (but **not
+   removed**);
+1. When we have a good amount of deprecations, we'll launch a new _major_,
+   removing them completely.
+   I think this will probably happen about once a year.
+
+So, if you lock your CI to get `v1.x.x`, you might get new deprecation
+warnings, but no breaking changes.
+
+You can then better plan when to upgrade your apps to the latest _major_,
+without having to lock to a specific _minor_/_patch_ release.
+
+## Supporting old versions
+
+I understand GoReleaser has become the _de-facto_ tool to release Go projects.
+I don't know how many users we have (because we don't track you), but judging by
+some code searches on GitHub, there are thousands of repositories using it.
+
+GoReleaser is also a big project.
+Maintaining it could already be a full-time job, but, it isn't.
+I work on it on my free time, which is limited - just like yours.
+
+All that being said, I understand that big companies and teams rely on
+GoReleaser, and some don't release as often.
+
+With that in mind, [GoReleaser Pro][gpro] customers will have more time to
+update: I'll keep launching _patch_ releases of the latest _major_ containing
+relevant bug fixes and security-related fixes.
+
+If you use the OSS version, you can either pin to the previous major, or update
+to the new one.
+You can also get a [GoReleaser Pro][gpro] license, and help fund this project.
+
+I haven't yet developed the exact rules for which bug fixes will get backported
+or not, but I'm quite confident that it'll be a mix of "fixes for really bad
+bugs" and "a customer is experiencing it and asked it to be fixed", and, of
+course, any security-related fixes.
+
+## So, when v2?
+
+Probably in a couple of months.
+
+Stay tuned! 📰
+
+## Early access
+
+Since a couple of weeks ago, we're building a new nightly automatically every
+week.
+
+You can already use _nightly_ as the version in [our GitHub Action][gha] if
+you can't wait for a new feature that's already on `main`.
+
+This works for both the Pro and OSS distributions.
+
+## Summing up
+
+The _TLDR_:
+
+- new _major_ version ~yearly;
+- new _minor_ version every ~two months;
+- new _patch_ versions whenever its needed, in the latest _minor_ only;
+- [Pro][gpro] latest version keep getting security updates and relevant bug fixes;
+- _nigtlies_ weekly for both Pro and OSS;
+
+## Thank you notes
+
+I would like to publicly thank everyone who commented and shared both their
+pains and their experiences in [the discussion that started all this][dis],
+and specially, [@LandonTClipp](https://github.com/LandonTClipp), who created it.
+
+All of us that do OpenSource know how easy a conversation like this could have
+gone south. Thankfully, this was not the case here. 💌
+
+Thank you, for real.
+Thank you for patience, for the contributions, and for pointing out ways I can
+make GoReleaser better.
+
+See you all soon!
+
+[v1]: ./2021-11-14-goreleaser-v1.md
+[deprecations]: ../../deprecations.md
+[dis]: https://github.com/orgs/goreleaser/discussions/4169
+[gpro]: ../../pro.md
+[gha]: https://github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser-action
+[Sponsors]: https://github.com/caarlos0