I think this sounds like a very reasonable approach. +1 for me. -Dave Campen
> On Jun 5, 2026, at 3:30 AM, Bart Maertens <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Everyone, > > As you may have noticed, we have a regression [1] in the Sorted Merge > transform in 2.18.0. > We have no meaningful integration tests for Sorted Merge, so this slipped > through the cracks. > > Sorted Merge is a crucial transform, so this issue will cause a lot of > production deployments to fail when they try to upgrade to 2.18.0. > Even though we usually do not create patch releases, this regression might > be serious enough to break our habit and create a 2.18.1 release. > > Given the fact that this regression was introduced in a massive burst of > XML cleanup changes [2]. It might make sense to wait another week or 2 to > see if any other regressions show up. > > Just to be clear: this is about the fact that there’s a regression. The XML > cleanup is tricky but had to be done. This is in no way meant to point > fingers; please consider this discussion a blameless post-mortem. > > My suggested approach would be: > 1. Give this discussion 72 hours to allow all developers and PMC members to > weigh in. When the discussion is closed, we inform the users that we have > found a significant regression in 2.18.0 and will create a patch release. > At the same time, we ask them to check for any additional regressions and > report asap if they find any. > 2. We wait another 2 weeks to see if any other regressions show up, and > then create a 2.18.1 patch release before the end of the month (June). > 3. We put our focus on creating additional integration tests for transforms > and actions in the 2.19.0 release. > > Let me know what you think. > > [1] https://github.com/apache/hop/issues/7219 > [2] > https://github.com/apache/hop/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aclosed%20milestone%3A%222.18%22%20cleanup%20xml > > Regards, > Bart
