Platform Policy
Platforms are classified as “primary”, “secondary”, “community” and “unadopted”. Support for a new platform should only be added if it is being adopted as a primary, secondary or community platform.
Primary
Definition: A platform that is regularly tested through project CI on a project owned and managed system.
New Pull Requests (PRs) should not be merged unless the primary platforms are showing as “green” in CI. If the CI breaks for a branch (such as for a stable version or master) then it should be fixed as a priority.
Secondary
Definition: A platform that is regularly tested through project CI on a system that is not owned or managed by the project. At least one project committer must have access to the system and be able and willing to support it.
New Pull Requests (PRs) should avoid introducing new breaks to CI in secondary platforms where possible but may still be merged where a resolution is not easily achievable without access to the platform. If the CI for a branch (such as for a stable version or master) on a secondary platform breaks, then a resolution should be sought as soon as is practically possible and before a release is made from the branch.
Community
Definition: Platforms that one or more members of the OpenSSL community have volunteered to support. May or may not be in project CI. Members of the community providing support do not have to be committers.
Where a community platform is in project CI then new Pull Requests (PRs) should avoid introducing new breaks to CI on such platforms where possible but may still be merged where a resolution is not easily achievable without access to the platform. If the CI for a branch (such as for a stable version or master) on a community platform breaks, then an attempt should be made to contact the community maintainer to request a fix. In the event that a community platform is broken in CI for a protracted period then it may be dropped from CI.
If defects are raised that are specific to a community platform then the community maintainer may be contacted to help find a resolution. If a community maintainer is unresponsive, or unable to provide fixes then the platform may be moved to “unadopted”.
Unadopted
Definition: Platforms that no one has volunteered to support.
Support may still be provided for such platforms where possible without access to the platform itself. Platform specific issues may be left unresolved where it is not feasible to find a suitable fix. Support for such platforms may be removed entirely from the OpenSSL code base in future releases.