July 2020 Summaries

Temporal has achieved code completion for its server and GoSDK components. However, the JavaSDK release will be delayed until next week due to unexpected blockers. No more breaking API/code changes are expected for the server or GoSDK moving forward, with all major changes being backwards compatible. The team is now focusing on stabilization efforts before encouraging production usage of V1. A testing and validation plan for V1 will be shared next week, and transparency updates will continue until a stable V1 release is achieved.

Temporal, a workflow orchestration platform, has released its latest version, v0.28.0, which brings the software up to date after a fork from Cadence in October 2019. The update includes various changes to the API and SDKs, such as the use of Protobuf/gRPC instead of Thrift/TChannel, and improvements to error handling and retry mechanisms. Additionally, the release includes new admin commands for managing namespaces and tasks, as well as simplified SQL schemas and improved SDK experiences. The update also addresses minor issues with Cassandra and Docker configurations. Overall, this version is one step closer to a stable production-ready release, thanks to the contributions of users who have helped Temporal iterate and improve its product.

The team has made significant progress on code completion tasks for V1, with approximately 50% completed in the last week. They are now confident that they will meet the initial deadline of July 31, 2020. As resources become available, focus will shift to stabilization efforts. Despite current global challenges, this update aims to provide some positive news for users and developers.

The latest release at the time of writing is V0.27.0. This update provides a second status report on V1 as part of increased transparency efforts. Key points include: code completion date remains unchanged at July 31, 2020; new tasks were generated from existing GitHub issues; many tasks are in progress and should clear up early next week; tasks have been further prioritized for intelligent cutting near the deadline; a large number of in-progress items are expected to be completed this week. The team is dedicated to V1 code completion, with updates available on their public GitHub repositories.

The latest release is V0.26.0. Changes have been made to the V1 release timeline due to unforeseen circumstances. The team's priority now is transparency and open communication, especially regarding user-critical path work. A concrete date for code completion has been set as July 31, 2020, after which stabilization efforts will begin. No specific date can be given yet for the stable release due to potential critical bugs. The team's focus is on reliability and fixing any discovered issues before releasing a stable version. Regular updates will be provided about the progress of code completion and stabilization tasks. Feedback, questions, or comments are welcome via email, Slack, or the community forum.

The recent delay in Temporal's production ready release caused concern among users. The company acknowledges this and is dedicated to improving future releases. Key guiding principles driving release decisions are simplification and quality. Factors contributing to the delay include uncertainty, bootstrapping the company, and recruiting efforts. Looking forward, Temporal plans to provide more context on key milestones for releases by clearly defining scopes, offering visibility into work involved, and regularly reporting progress to the community.

Temporal is moving to Discourse from Slack for its knowledge database needs due to scalability issues with Slack's pricing model. The company has started a Discourse forum and will gradually move certain discussions away from Slack. Discourse was chosen as it meets the criteria of cost, searchability, responsiveness, accessibility, moderation, onboarding overhead, thread support, and is widely adopted. Temporal plans to keep Slack for casual discussion and brainstorming but may remove it in the future based on community feedback and usage patterns.