tl;dr: Backport windows will shift earlier in the (UTC) day starting on Mon, Feb 14th.

Problem
Some backport windows have few deployers, and windows are not evenly distributed for global users—the window times slant US-centric.

Solution
tl;dr: we made a spreadsheet (Antoine did, actually).

After discussing with backport and train deployers, we're shifting backport window timeslots to:
  1. Evenly distribute backport windows – the IST timezone had no good time to deploy
  2. Provide better deployer coverage – the late afternoon backport window (which previously happened at 4pm Pacific) often had few deployers (and few users)
Here's a schedule that will be live Mon, Feb 14th (my Valentine's day present to you all)
  • 08:00 UTC 🔙 Early Backport
  • 14:00 UTC 🔙 Afternoon Backport
  • 21:00 UTC 🔙 Evening Backport
Train
  • 09:00 UTC 🚂 UTC-0 (Antoine) Train
  • 19:00 UTC 🚂 UTC-7 (US) Train
Big(ish) Changes
  • UTC-7 train is an hour earlier
    • Swapped with the backport window so backport is now after train
  • UTC-Early backport is much earlier
  • UTC-Late backport is pretty early, too

<3
Tyler Cipriani (he/him)
Engineering Manager, Release Engineering
Wikimedia Foundation