11 KiB
11 KiB
Versioning policy
Starting with vLLM 0.7.x, the vLLM Ascend Plugin (vllm-project/vllm-ascend) project follows the PEP 440 to publish matching with vLLM (vllm-project/vllm).
vLLM Ascend Plugin versions
Each vLLM Ascend release will be versioned: v[major].[minor].[micro][rcN][.postN] (such as
v0.7.3rc1, v0.7.3, v0.7.3.post1)
- Final releases: will typically be released every 3 months, will take the vLLM upstream release plan and Ascend software product release plan into comprehensive consideration.
- Pre releases: will typically be released on demand, ending with rcN, represents the Nth release candidate version, to support early testing by our users prior to a final release.
- Post releases: will typically be released on demand to support to address minor errors in a final release. It's different from PEP-440 post release note suggestion, it will contain actual bug fixes considering that the final release version should be matched strictly with the vLLM final release version (
v[major].[minor].[micro]). The post version has to be published as a patch version of the final release.
For example:
v0.7.x: it's the first final release to match the vLLMv0.7.xversion.v0.7.3rc1: will be the first pre version of vLLM Ascend.v0.7.3.post1: will be the post release if thev0.7.3release has some minor errors.
Release Compatibility Matrix
Following is the Release Compatibility Matrix for vLLM Ascend Plugin:
| vLLM Ascend | vLLM | Python | Stable CANN | PyTorch/torch_npu | MindIE Turbo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| v0.11.0rc0 | v0.11.0rc3 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.7.1 / 2.7.1.dev20250724 | |
| v0.10.2rc1 | v0.10.2 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.7.1 / 2.7.1.dev20250724 | |
| v0.10.1rc1 | v0.10.1/v0.10.1.1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.7.1 / 2.7.1.dev20250724 | |
| v0.10.0rc1 | v0.10.0 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.7.1 / 2.7.1.dev20250724 | |
| v0.9.2rc1 | v0.9.2 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1.post1.dev20250619 | |
| v0.9.1 | v0.9.1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1.post1 | |
| v0.9.1rc3 | v0.9.1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1.post1 | |
| v0.9.1rc2 | v0.9.1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.2.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1.post1 | |
| v0.9.1rc1 | v0.9.1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1.post1.dev20250528 | |
| v0.9.0rc2 | v0.9.0 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | |
| v0.9.0rc1 | v0.9.0 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | |
| v0.8.5rc1 | v0.8.5.post1 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | |
| v0.8.4rc2 | v0.8.4 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.0.0 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | |
| v0.7.3.post1 | v0.7.3 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | 2.0rc1 |
| v0.7.3 | v0.7.3 | >= 3.9, < 3.12 | 8.1.RC1 | 2.5.1 / 2.5.1 | 2.0rc1 |
Release cadence
release window
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2025.09.30 | Release candidates, v0.11.0rc0 |
| 2025.09.16 | Release candidates, v0.10.2rc1 |
| 2025.09.04 | Release candidates, v0.10.1rc1 |
| 2025.09.03 | v0.9.1 Final release |
| 2025.08.22 | Release candidates, v0.9.1rc3 |
| 2025.08.07 | Release candidates, v0.10.0rc1 |
| 2025.08.04 | Release candidates, v0.9.1rc2 |
| 2025.07.11 | Release candidates, v0.9.2rc1 |
| 2025.06.22 | Release candidates, v0.9.1rc1 |
| 2025.06.10 | Release candidates, v0.9.0rc2 |
| 2025.06.09 | Release candidates, v0.9.0rc1 |
| 2025.05.29 | v0.7.x post release, v0.7.3.post1 |
| 2025.05.08 | v0.7.x Final release, v0.7.3 |
| 2025.05.06 | Release candidates, v0.8.5rc1 |
| 2025.04.28 | Release candidates, v0.8.4rc2 |
| 2025.04.18 | Release candidates, v0.8.4rc1 |
| 2025.03.28 | Release candidates, v0.7.3rc2 |
| 2025.03.14 | Release candidates, v0.7.3rc1 |
| 2025.02.19 | Release candidates, v0.7.1rc1 |
Branch policy
vLLM Ascend has main branch and dev branch.
- main: main branch，corresponds to the vLLM main branch and latest 1 or 2 release version. It is continuously monitored for quality through Ascend CI.
- vX.Y.Z-dev: development branch, created with part of new releases of vLLM. For example,
v0.7.3-devis the dev branch for vLLMv0.7.3version.
Usually, a commit should be ONLY first merged in the main branch, and then backported to the dev branch to reduce maintenance costs as much as possible.
Maintenance branch and EOL:
The branch status will be in one of the following states:
| Branch | Time frame | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Maintained | Approximately 2-3 minor versions | All bugfixes are appropriate. Releases produced, CI commitment. |
| Unmaintained | Community interest driven | All bugfixes are appropriate. No Releases produced, No CI commitment |
| End of Life (EOL) | N/A | Branch no longer accepting changes |
Branch state
Note that vLLM Ascend will only be released for a certain vLLM release version rather than all versions. Hence, You might see only part of versions have dev branches (such as only 0.7.1-dev / 0.7.3-dev but no 0.7.2-dev), this is as expected.
Usually, each minor version of vLLM (such as 0.7) will correspond to a vLLM Ascend version branch and support its latest version (for example, we plan to support version 0.7.3) as following shown:
| Branch | Status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| main | Maintained | CI commitment for vLLM main branch and vLLM 0.9.2 branch |
| v0.9.1-dev | Maintained | CI commitment for vLLM 0.9.1 version |
| v0.7.3-dev | Maintained | CI commitment for vLLM 0.7.3 version |
| v0.7.1-dev | Unmaintained | Replaced by v0.7.3-dev |
Feature branches
| Branch | Status | RFC link | Merge plan | Mentor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rfc/long_seq_optimization | Maintained | https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/issues/22693 | 930 | wangxiyuan |
- Branch: The feature branch should be created with a prefix
rfc/followed by the feature name, such asrfc/feature-name. - Status: The status of the feature branch is
Maintaineduntil it is merged into the main branch or deleted. - RFC link: The feature branch should be created with a corresponding RFC issue. The creation of a feature branch requires an RFC and approval from at least two maintainers.
- Merge plan: The final goal of a feature branch is to merge it into the main branch. If it exceeds 3 months, the mentor maintainer should evaluate whether to delete the branch.
- Mentor: The mentor should be a vLLM Ascend maintainer who is responsible for the feature branch.
Backward compatibility
For main branch, vLLM Ascend should works with vLLM main branch and latest 1 or 2 release version. So to ensure the backward compatibility, we will do the following:
- Both main branch and target vLLM release is tested by Ascend E2E CI. For example, currently, vLLM main branch and vLLM 0.8.4 are tested now.
- For code changes, we will make sure that the changes are compatible with the latest 1 or 2 vLLM release version as well. In this case, vLLM Ascend introduced a version check machinism inner the code. It'll check the version of installed vLLM package first to decide which code logic to use. If users hit the
InvalidVersionerror, it sometimes means that they have installed an dev/editable version of vLLM package. In this case, we provide the env variableVLLM_VERSIONto let users specify the version of vLLM package to use. - For documentation changes, we will make sure that the changes are compatible with the latest 1 or 2 vLLM release version as well. Note should be added if there are any breaking changes.
Document Branch Policy
To reduce maintenance costs, all branch documentation content should remain consistent, and version differences can be controlled via variables in docs/source/conf.py. While this is not a simple task, it is a principle we should strive to follow.
| Version | Purpose | Code Branch |
|---|---|---|
| latest | Doc for the latest dev branch | vX.Y.Z-dev (Will be main after the first final release) |
| version | Doc for historical released versions | Git tags, like vX.Y.Z[rcN] |
| stable（not yet released） | Doc for latest final release branch | Will be vX.Y.Z-dev after the first official release |
As shown above:
latestdocumentation: Matches the current maintenance branchvX.Y.Z-dev(Will bemainafter the first final release). Continuously updated to ensure usability for the latest release.versiondocumentation: Corresponds to specific released versions (e.g.,v0.7.3,v0.7.3rc1). No further updates after release.stabledocumentation (not yet released): Official release documentation. Updates are allowed in real-time after release, typically based on vX.Y.Z-dev. Once stable documentation is available, non-stable versions should display a header warning:You are viewing the latest developer preview docs. Click here to view docs for the latest stable release..
Software Dependency Management
torch-npu: Ascend Extension for PyTorch (torch-npu) releases a stable version to PyPi every 3 months, a development version (aka the POC version) every month, and a nightly version every day. The PyPi stable version CAN be used in vLLM Ascend final version, the monthly dev version ONLY CANN be used in vLLM Ascend RC version for rapid iteration, the nightly version CANNOT be used in vLLM Ascend any version and branches.