• Before the required stop is released
• In the release following the required stop

Adding required stops

Required stops should only be added when it is deemed absolutely necessary, due to their disruptive effect on customers. Before adding a required stop, consider if any alternative approaches exist to avoid a required stop. Sometimes a required stop is unavoidable. In those cases, follow the instructions below.

Before the required stop is released

Before releasing a known required stop, complete these steps. If the required stop is identified after release, the following steps must still be completed:

1. Update upgrade paths to include the new required stop.
2. Communicate the changes with the customer Support and Release management teams.

3. File an issue with the Database group to squash migrations to that version in the next release. Use this template for your issue:

   Title: `Squash migrations to <Required stop version>`
   As a result of the required stop added for <required stop version> we should squash
   migrations up to that version, and update the minimum schema version.
   
   Deliverables:
   - [ ] Migrations are squashed up to <required stop version>
   - [ ] `Gitlab::Database::MIN_SCHEMA_VERSION` matches init_schema version
   
   /label ~"group::database" ~"section::enablement" ~"devops::data_stores" ~"Category:Database" ~"type::maintenance"
   /cc @gitlab-org/database-team/triage
   

In the release following the required stop

1. Update Gitlab::Database::MIN_SCHEMA_GITLAB_VERSION in lib/gitlab/database.rb to the new required stop versions. Do not change Gitlab::Database::MIN_SCHEMA_VERSION.