Release Anxiety Created: Thu 25 Aug 2022 · Updated: Fri 26 Aug 2022

I build pyinfra, a tool for deploying infrastructure using Python. I recently not so recently released v2.0 and it was months late for absolutely no reason. Enter release anxiety.

What if someone PRs a cool new thing tomorrow? What if there’s undiscovered bugs? What if documentation is missing?

There is an endless stream of anxiety inducing what-ifs floating in my head in the run up to a release. On the other side there’s an ever growing pressure to make the release. The walls are closing in.

Major versions feel even more scary for me and I imagine others. I have a paralysing feeling that any major change has to be substantial in some way. So like dropping an old Python version isn’t enough, must have some major feature change.

What if someone is relying on an unreleased bug fix? Will people be angry their PR hasn’t been released yet? Does it all work properly!?

I have no answer for these problems - instead I have taken a different approach: stop caring so much.

Yes, I want to be a good maintainer and ensure the project runs well and helps people get shit done. But at the end of the day it’s free, open source and if anyone really needs X they can do it themselves - one of the amazing things about open source projects.

So I care less, this has freed up mental capacity to figure out the important stuff. Releases, minor and major, will be released as and when ready without any internal fussing. You know what? That also goes for blog posts.