# Release

## **Release management**

The most important element of our work is reproducibility. We have a relatively long time for our projects but we have to rerun our codes and beads countless times.

The following terms are used as an own industrial jargon when we work: alpha release, beta release, Long time support (LTS), data testers and developers.

We are developing codes like software developers and we use terms from [software release life cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle) like alpha release and beta release.

Alpha release in our terms when the codes and the outputs are ready and the bead is saved into the `latest`bead-box. 

Tester is a person who knows the codes and gives feedbacks to the developer. Tester can run tests on the alpha release like: descriptive statistics, figures or manual checkings. 

Developer/maintainer is a person who is responsible for data inputs, developments outputs. Developer is also responsible to keep a bead up to date and to write Meta documentations and Readme-s.

Beta stage is when we share the bead inside our team or share the data with another researcher. For example if we need feedback from our colleagues or if we would like to ask for help in debugging from another researcher.

LTS beads are supported and updated at specified intervals. LTS products must have a cleaned bead route and must contain a Makefile which copy all the proper inputs to the output folders. 

We also have quarterly release plans and personal due dates linked to each Trello card. <br>


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://handbook.microdata.io/tools/release.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.