Keptn Roadmap and Keptn Enhancement Proposals (KEP)

This repository contains two elements that are important to drive the development of the Keptn project:

1. Keptn Roadmap: Defining the direction of Keptn.
2. Keptn Enhancement Proposals (one could also call these Request For Comments): A new proposal can be made by creating a pull request. Already accepted proposals will be listed in the text/ directory.

Keptn Roadmap

Please find here the Keptn Roadmap which defines the building blocks for 2021. Based on the building blocks, Keptn Enhancements Proposals are derived.

Keptn Enhancement Proposals

All enhancement proposals that have been accepted into this repo can be found in the text/ directory in the following format:

XXXX-my-proposal.md where as XXXX is the KEP ID (basically the ID of the Pull Request).

Each proposal can have one of the following status:

• proposed (PR created)
• approved (PR reviewed and merged)
• rejected (PR is actively rejected by the reviewers)
• withdrawn (PR has been closed by the proposer)

What changes require a KEP?

A KEP is required when it is intended to introduce new behaviour, change desired behaviour, or otherwise modify requirements of Keptn.

In practice, this means that KEPs should be used for such changes as:

• Behavioural changes of Keptn or any core services
• Changes that affect the interaction of multiple services
• Breaking changes

On the other hand, they do not necessarily need to be used for such changes as:

• Bug fixes
• Rephrasing, grammatical fixes, typos, etc.
• Refactoring
• Automated tests
• Simple workflow changes (such as adding a timeout, retry logic, ...)

Note: The above lists are intended only as examples and are not meant to be exhaustive. If you don't know whether a change requires a KEP, please feel free to contact us!

Writing a new proposal

There are two options available for creating a KEP:

• Forking the repo and creating a Pull Request
• Creating an issue based on the KEP-template that contains the same content - we will then take care of the Pull Request

Preferred: Fork the repo and create a PR

1. Fork the keptn/enhancement-proposals repo
2. Copy 0000-template.md into the text/ directory and rename it accordingly (e.g., to XXXX-my-proposal-title.md) - Please note that XXXX (ID of the KEP) needs to be replaced with the Pull Request ID later.
3. Fill in the template. Put care into the details: It is important to present convincing motivation, demonstrate an understanding of the design's impact, and honestly assess the drawbacks and potential alternatives (feel free to adapt the template to your likings, if you feel that it is necessary or if it helps to improve readability).

Create an issue based on the KEP-template

1. Create a new issue (based on the KEP-template)
2. Please note the ID of the issue and replace XXXX in the template with the issue ID.
3. Fill in the template. Put care into the details: It is important to present convincing motivation, demonstrate an understanding of the design's impact, and honestly assess the drawbacks and potential alternatives (feel free to adapt the template to your likings, if you feel that it is necessary or if it helps to improve readability).
4. Please note: For this KEP to be accepted, we will eventually create a Pull Request and merge it.

Submitting a new proposal

• A KEP is proposed by posting it as a Pull Request (PR). Once the PR is created, update the KEP file name to use the PR ID as the KEP ID.
• A KEP is approved after a number of official reviewers github-approve the PR (this number might change over time). The KEP is then merged.
• If a KEP is rejected or withdrawn, the PR is closed. Note that these KEP submissions are still recorded, as Github retains both the discussion and the proposal, even if the branch is later deleted.
• If a KEP discussion becomes long, and the KEP then goes through a major revision, the next version of the KEP can be posted as a new PR, which references the old PR. The old PR is then closed. This makes KEP review easier to follow and participate in.

Final words

This process borrows from Open Telemetry Enhancement Proposals.

The hope and expectation is that this process will evolve over time, it is by no means fixed. If you have any suggestions, questions or concerns, please get in touch with us.