Google Chrome Release Cycle

By | January 14, 2011 | 7 Comments

Google has recently published an interesting release cycle slideshow for Google Chrome web browser that reveals some interesting points.

Here are some points that can be drawn from the presentation:

Google Chrome is treated as an online service rather than actual software, explaining the reason for such release cycles.

Instead of wasting time on feature branches (that can take weeks of debugging), Google Chrome team works on a centralized trunk, allowing to release more frequent updates.

The current release pattern is based on a six week release cycle.

Features are designed in a way to be disabled with a single patch (if required).

For the full list, see the slideshow above. Doesn’t work? Try direct link.


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Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • Grrblt

    I’d buy it if they weren’t also developing Android that has a torrent of new features with every .1 update.

    • Hi There!

      It’s not as though the Android and Chrome teams are separate teams or anything.

      Really, I don’t know why people let themselves get so caught up in version numbers in the first place. It’s a lot of the reason I stopped using Firefox. They’d get things done but you’d have to wait forever to see them because they didn’t want to release them unless they were ready for a major release. And if a feature didn’t quite make it? Good luck waiting for that. Chrome’s policy if not caring about version numbers and getting things out simply when they’re ready to go is much more preferable.

      • Grrblt

        They are separate teams but under the same management.

        • nvm

          Keep in mind that Google is a huge company.

  • nvm

    Instead of wasting time on feature branches (that can take weeks of debugging), Google Chrome team works on a centralized trunk, allowing to release more frequent updates.

    Sounds like waterfall development?

    • mabdul

      I do think that opera changed to this system in the development phase of oipera 10.20 that never left the beta phase and they released instead 10.5

  • http://my.opera.com/rafaelluik Rafael

    This explains nothing… They’re naming it version 7, 8, 9 instead of 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 just because they want it (the process has nothing to so with version numbers).

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