Dear MXNet community, I wanted to initiate a discussion about the plan and scope for the next MXNet releases. I suggest we focus on three releases, and get the process going in parallel: (1) 1.4.1 - patch release on top of 1.4.0 to address some perf regressions and memory leaks I am aware of, such as the memory leak fixed on Scala [0 <https://github.com/apache/incubator-mxnet/pull/14586>]. I went ahead and created a draft release proposal wiki [1 <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MXNET/%5BDRAFT+PROPOSAL%5D+Apache+MXNet+%28incubating%29+1.4.1+Release+Plan+and+Status> ]. (2) 1.5.0 - a minor release to add new features introduced since 1.4.0 release started (back in Nov 2018!), such as various performance improvements: aggregate SGD, in-place updates in optimizers, gpu support for image processing operators and many more features useful for MXNet’s users. (3) 2.0 - an exciting major release that will include major enhancements to MXNet.
Timeframes will probably vary based on the scope. I think we should plan to start 1.4.1 release within a couple of weeks, 1.5.0 should target starting once we release 1.4.1, and 2.0 timeline is TBD - but such a major release will require more time to discuss and decide in the community. I was thinking to get started through: (1) Draft proposals on CWiki, where the community can add content and propose scope and features. (2) Setup online meetings, where anyone can dial into, from anywhere, where we will have a chance to discuss in voice+video. (3) With (1)+(2) have a scope and timeline that the community, in large, supports. Would be great to get the community's feedback and suggestions, and please reply if you would like to be involved in the effort of supporting the releases! MXNet is awesome, looking forward to working together to make it even better! Hagay [0] https://github.com/apache/incubator-mxnet/pull/14586 [1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MXNET/%5BDRAFT+PROPOSAL%5D+Apache+MXNet+%28incubating%29+1.4.1+Release+Plan+and+Status
