downloads.html.in

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    <h1>Downloads</h1>

    <ul id="toc"></ul>

    <h2><a name="releases">Official Releases</a></h2>

    <p>
      The latest versions of the libvirt C library can be downloaded from:
    </p>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="ftp://libvirt.org/libvirt/">libvirt.org FTP server</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://libvirt.org/sources/">libvirt.org HTTP server</a></li>
    </ul>

    <h2><a name="hourly">Hourly development snapshots</a></h2>

    <p>
      Once an hour, an automated snapshot is made from the git server
      source tree. These snapshots should be usable, but we make no guarantees
      about their stability; furthermore, they should NOT be
      considered formal releases, and they may have transient security
      problems that will not be assigned a CVE.
    </p>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="ftp://libvirt.org/libvirt/libvirt-git-snapshot.tar.gz">libvirt.org FTP server</a></li>
      <li><a href="http://libvirt.org/sources/libvirt-git-snapshot.tar.gz">libvirt.org HTTP server</a></li>
    </ul>

    <h2><a name="schedule">Primary release schedule</a></h2>

    <p>
      Libvirt follows a time based plan, with releases made once a month
      on the 1st of each month give or take a few days. The only exception
      is at the start of the year where there are two 6 weeks gaps (first
      release in the middle of Jan, then skip the Feb release), giving
      a total of 11 releases a year.
    </p>

    <h2><a name="numbering">Release numbering</a></h2>

    <p>
      Since libvirt 2.0.0, a time based version numbering rule
      is applied. As such, the changes in version number have
      do not have any implications with respect to the scope of
      features or bugfixes included, the stability of the code,
      or the API / ABI compatibility (libvirt API / ABI is guaranteed
      stable forever). The rules applied for changing the libvirt
      version number are:
    </p>

    <dl>
      <dt><code>major</code></dt>
      <dd>incremented by 1 for the first release of the year (the
        Jan 15th release)</dd>
      <dt><code>minor</code></dt>
      <dd>incremented by 1 for each monthly release from git master</dd>
      <dt><code>micro</code></dt>
      <dd>always 0 for releases from git master, incremented by 1
        for each stable maintenance release</dd>
    </dl>

    <p>
      Prior to 2.0.0, the major/minor numbers were incremented
      fairly arbitrarily, and maintenance releases appended a
      fourth digit.
    </p>

    <h2><a name="maintenance">Maintenance releases</a></h2>
    <p>
      In the git repository are several stable maintenance branches,
      matching the
      pattern <code>v<i>major</i>.<i>minor</i>-maint</code>;
      these branches are forked off the corresponding
      <code>v<i>major</i>.<i>minor</i>.0</code> formal
      release, and may have further releases of the
      form <code>v<i>major</i>.<i>minor</i>.<i>micro</i></code>.
      These maintenance branches should only contain bug fixes, and no
      new features, backported from the master branch, and are
      supported as long as at least one downstream distribution
      expresses interest in a given branch.  These maintenance
      branches are considered during CVE analysis. In contrast
      to the primary releases which are made once a month, there
      is no formal schedule for the maintenance releases, which
      are made whenever there is a need to make available key
      bugfixes to downstream consumers.
    </p>

    <p>
      For more details about contents of maintenance releases, see
      <a href="http://wiki.libvirt.org/page/Maintenance_Releases">the
      wiki page</a>.
    </p>

    <h2><a name="git">GIT source repository</a></h2>

    <p>
      Libvirt code source is now maintained in a <a href="http://git-scm.com/">git</a>
      repository available on <a href="http://libvirt.org/git/">libvirt.org</a>:
    </p>

    <pre>
      git clone git://libvirt.org/libvirt.git</pre>

    <p>
      It can also be browsed at:
    </p>

    <pre>
      <a href="http://libvirt.org/git/?p=libvirt.git;a=summary">http://libvirt.org/git/?p=libvirt.git;a=summary</a></pre>

    <p>
      In addition to this repository, there are the following read-only git
      repositories which mirror the master one. Note that we currently do not
      use the full set of features on these mirrors (e.g. pull requests on
      GitHub, so please don't use them). All patch review and discussion only
      occurs on the <a href="contact.html">libvir-list</a> mailing list. Also
      note that some repositories listed below allow HTTP checkouts too.
    </p>

    <pre>
      <a href="https://github.com/libvirt/libvirt">https://github.com/libvirt/libvirt</a>
      <a href="http://repo.or.cz/w/libvirt.git">http://repo.or.cz/w/libvirt.git</a>
      <a href="https://gitlab.com/libvirt/libvirt">https://gitlab.com/libvirt/libvirt</a></pre>

    <br />

    <h1>libvirt Application Development Guide</h1>

    <p>
      The guide is both a learning tool for developing with libvirt and an
      API reference document. It is a work in progress, composed by a
      professional author from contributions written by members of the
      libvirt team.
    </p>

    <p>
      Contributions to the guide are <b>VERY</b> welcome. If you'd like to get
      your name on this and demonstrate your virtualisation prowess, a solid
      contribution to the content here will do it. :)
    </p>

    <h2><a name="appdevpdf">Application Development Guide PDF</a></h2>

    <p>
      PDF download is available here:
    </p>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="http://libvirt.org/guide/pdf/Application_Development_Guide.pdf">libvirt App Dev Guide</a> (PDF)</li>
    </ul>

    <h2><a name="appdevgit">Application Development Guide source GIT repository</a></h2>

    <p>
      The source is also in a git repository:
    </p>

    <pre>
      git clone git://libvirt.org/libvirt-appdev-guide.git</pre>

    <p>
      Browsable at:
    </p>

    <pre>
      <a href="http://libvirt.org/git/?p=libvirt-appdev-guide.git;a=summary">http://libvirt.org/git/?p=libvirt-appdev-guide.git;a=summary</a></pre>

    <br />

    <p>
      Once you've have obtained the libvirt source code, you can compile it
      using the <a href="compiling.html">instructions here</a>.
    </p>
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