The libvirt project maintains a number of inter-related modules beyond the core C library/daemon.
Most modules have releases made available for download on the project site, via FTP, HTTP or HTTPS. Some modules are instead made available at alternative locations, for example, the Perl binding is made available only on CPAN.
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.
The core libvirt module 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. The Python and Perl modules will aim to release at the same time as the core libvirt module. Other modules have independant ad-hoc releases with no fixed time schedle.
Since libvirt 2.0.0, a time based version numbering rule is applied to the core library releases. 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:
majorminormicroPrior to 2.0.0, the major/minor numbers were incremented fairly arbitrarily, and maintenance releases appended a fourth digit. The language bindings will aim to use the same version number as the most recent core library API they support. The other modules have their own distinct release numbering sequence, though they generally aim to follow the above rules for incrementing major/minor/micro digits.
In the git repository are several stable maintenance branches
for the core library, matching the
pattern vmajor.minor-maint;
these branches are forked off the corresponding
vmajor.minor.0 formal
release, and may have further releases of the
form vmajor.minor.micro.
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. The language bindings
and other modules generally do not provide stable branch
releases.
For more details about contents of maintenance releases, see the wiki page.
All modules maintained by the libvirt project have their primary source available in the project GIT server. Each module can be cloned anonymously using:
git clone https://libvirt.org/git/[module name].git
The git:// protocol is also available if desired, but
https:// is encouraged, since it is more reliable when
faced with strict firewalls.
git clone git://libvirt.org/[module name].git
In addition to this primary 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 libvir-list mailing list. Also note that some repositories listed below allow HTTP checkouts too.
https://github.com/libvirt/ https://gitlab.com/libvirt/