Gazebo proposes March release cadence to align with ROS and boost contributor workflow

The Gazebo robotics simulation platform is proposing a major shift in its release strategy, moving from a September to a March annual release cadence. The proposal, put forth by the Gazebo Project Management Committee (PMC), aims to resolve long-standing operational challenges and create better alignment with the ROS (Robot Operating System) ecosystem.

Technically, the shift addresses several friction points. The current September cycle forces a feature and code freeze during July and August—peak vacation times in the northern hemisphere—straining core maintainers. It also clashes with ROSCon submission deadlines. The new March cadence provides a six-month buffer, allowing more polished conference presentations. Crucially, it better accommodates contributions from Google Summer of Code (GSoC) and summer interns by giving more integration time before a freeze.

The alignment with ROS is a core component. Currently, Gazebo and ROS releases are offset by 7 months, causing non-overlapping support windows and user confusion. The new plan proposes skipping version letters 'K' and 'L' to directly align Gazebo with the ROS 2 'M' release in 2027. From then on, paired releases (e.g., Gazebo-M and ROS-M) will share the same letter and release year. Support windows will be extended by 2 months so that Gazebo and its paired ROS release reach End-of-Life (EOL) simultaneously. The proposal also outlines a revised Ubuntu support strategy, where LTS releases will prioritize the new Ubuntu version released one month after Gazebo, with support for the previous LTS on a 'best-effort' basis.

This strategic realignment is designed to reduce maintenance burden, clarify version pairing for users, and create a more sustainable contributor workflow by decoupling intensive release periods from summer holidays and key community events.