Adding Versioning guidelines
Change-Id: I27307cea6a20ef385bff062b8dfdc2feb1fc6241
diff --git a/overview/contributing.rst b/overview/contributing.rst
index a02a332..c187f15 100644
--- a/overview/contributing.rst
+++ b/overview/contributing.rst
@@ -62,6 +62,26 @@
approval**. Join one of the `communication channels <https://wiki.opennetworking.org/display/COM/VOLTHA>`_
to request a review or to bring additional attention to your patch.
+Versioning
+++++++++++
+
+All of the VOLTHA components and the charts include a VERSION file that specifies
+the version of the service, library, protobuf, test suite included in the repository.
+The VERSION is in the format and follows the `SemVer principles <https://semver.org>`_
+VOLTHA also follows the guidelines on how to increment versions as described in the
+`SemVer specification <https://semver.org/#semantic-versioning-specification-semver>`_.
+
+Each increment of the VERSION file in a patch automatically triggers publishing of the repository
+artifact, e.g. docker images, with that tag.
+In VOLTHA we also use a `x.y.z-dev` format which identifies a non-released component (what is `master`).
+When a patch is merged with the `-dev` suffix in the VERSION file no artifact is published except for `master`
+docker images. The `-dev` suffix should be removed when a feature being worked on and the component
+is ready for release.
+
+We expect contributions to the VOLTHA codebase to follow these rules when submitting a patch
+and the same rules to be enforced by reviewers during the core review process.
+
+
Core Contributors
-----------------
@@ -186,7 +206,6 @@
- `Khenaidoo Nursimulu <knursimu@ciena.com>`_
- `David Bainbridge <dbainbri.ciena@gmail.com>`_
-
Community Guidelines
--------------------
diff --git a/overview/releases.rst b/overview/releases.rst
index 8a0a9e4..42b30c3 100644
--- a/overview/releases.rst
+++ b/overview/releases.rst
@@ -93,5 +93,9 @@
- July 11, 2021
- December 30, 2022
- Long Term Support Release
+ * - `VOLTHA 2.9 <../release_notes/voltha_2.9.rst>`_
+ - December 17, 2021
+ - June 30, 2022
+ -