Plans for releasing a VIRTIO 1.2 spec

[Cornelia Huck <cohuck@redhat.com>]

We are due (or rather overdue) for a new release of the VIRTIO spec. As
doing a release takes some time, we need to tie things up soon (remember
that there will also be a next revision for changes that don't make the
cut.)

We propose to declare a freeze on changes starting January 25th, 2022 (no
new non-editorial changes committed). This would mean that any ballot
needs to conclude on January 24th the latest (and therefore has to be
opened before January 17th). Any change that you want to see included in
1.2 has to reach enough consensus to open a ballot in early January 2022.

Next steps would be creating a Comittee Specification Draft (and voting
on it), putting it out for review, and then creating (and voting on) a
Comittee Specification, hopefully before the end of March 2022.

To reiterate, anything that should be included in VIRTIO 1.2 needs to
have a ballot started

              *before January 17th, 2022*

at the very latest (preferably earlier).

This should give us enough time to tie up most proposals currently
actively discussed. Again, remember that anything that is late will
simply make it into the next release instead.

Please let us know if you have any concerns.

The VIRTIO TC Chairs