Appendix H: Release Roadmap

This roadmap outlines the development phases from the initial beta through the 1.0 general release.

Phase 1: Symmetric Partitioning & Sphinx

Goal: Implement even_collars and establish professional documentation.

0.99.0 Beta: Symmetric Logic and Documentation

Released: 2026-03-08 | Git Tag: release_0_99_0 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] Symmetric Logic: Enable equatorial hyperplane alignment for S² and S³.
[x] Sphinx Framework: Initialize multi-format documentation with MyST-Parser.

0.99.3 Beta: Branding & Notation

Released: 2026-03-14 | Git Tag: release_0_99_3 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] PyPI Branding: Standardized project identity and mathematical notation for web rendering.
[x] Scaling Parity: Verified \(O(N^{0.6})\) scaling parity with original MATLAB research.

Phase 2: Documentation Audit & Quality Hardening

Goal: Finalize NumPy docstrings and establish bibliographic consistency.

[x] Docstring Audit: Standardize NumPy Google-style docstrings across all modules.
[x] Bibliographic Parity: Align bibliography with canonical PhD thesis keys [Leo07].

0.99.4 Beta: Maintenance Consolidation

Released: 2026-03-17 | Git Tag: release_0_99_4 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] Porting Guide: Document changes from MATLAB to Python.
[x] Quality Checks: Automated Aussie -ize orthography enforcement.

0.99.6 Beta: Release Automation & Governance

Released: 2026-03-21 | Git Tag: release_0_99_6 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] Release Automation: Introduced release/ suite to automate build-upload cycles.
[x] Governance: Added Roles & Responsibilities matrix to the Maintenance Guide.
[x] Bibliography Consistency: Manual audit to align all internal citation keys.

Phase 3: Infrastructure Hardening & Full Coverage

Goal: Harden CI infrastructure, implement automated quality guardrails, achieve 100% project-wide coverage, and verify dimensional robustness.

0.99.7 Beta: Quality Hardening

Released: 2026-03-22 | Git Tag: release_0_99_7 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] Pre-commit Layer: Formalized the first tier of “Defense in Depth” (Item 1-2).
[x] Zero-Warning Policy: Integrated make html SPHINXOPTS="-W" into validation/verify_all.py to prevent documentation drift.
[x] Environment Isolation: Improved validation/verify_all.py to manage PATH for subprocesses across diverse virtual environments.

0.99.8 Beta: Infrastructure Hardening

Released: 2026-04-03 | Git Tag: release_0_99_8 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] JOSS Submission: Initiate the peer-review process by submitting the voice-modeled paper.md and paper.bib artifacts to the Journal of Open Source Software. This establishes the project’s scholarly identity alongside the 2007 PhD thesis [Leo07] and 2024 JAS paper [Leo24-JAS].
[x] Automation Coverage Plan: Achieved 100% coverage on the script automation hub (release/, validation/) using modular refactoring and the test_ci_scripts.py suite.
[x] Verified Deployment: Confirmed stability of the build_dist.py atomic backup and robust doc/conf.py mocking across all CI runners.
[x] Technical Symmetry Audit: Reviewed historical and modern Sphinx configurations for project-wide consistency.
[x] Rename COPYING to LICENSE and adopt PEP 639: Renamed COPYING → LICENSE; updated pyproject.toml with license = "MIT" and license-files = ["LICENSE"].
[x] Rename doc/internal/ to doc/maintainer/: Reflected that these are public maintainer-facing docs. Updated all internal references.

0.99.9 Beta: Full Project Coverage & Dimensional Robustness

Released: 2026-04-09 | Git Tag: release_0_99_9 | Distribution: PyPI

[x] Histogram Logic Alignment: Back-ported “Index Rotation” (longitude lookup fix) into eqsp/histograms.py and implemented high-\(N\) wrap-around tests. Removed legacy lookup_table() in favor of domain-translated np.searchsorted() for 100% coverage.
[x] Coverage Deep-Dive: Reached 100% functional coverage in all core maintenance and release scripts (release/, validation/) and core algorithm edge cases (e.g., \(dim=1\) scalar paths).
[x] Higher-Dimension Robustness: Verified recursive partitioning for \(S^4\) and \(S^5\), ensuring coordinate bounds and unit-norm properties hold for \(dim \ge 4\).
[x] Benchmark Alignment: Synchronized Python benchmark logic, warm-up phases, and \(N_{max}\) parameters with the original MATLAB EQSP Toolbox. Implemented binary scaling (1-2-5) for symmetric benchmarks.
[x] Equatorial Symmetry Expansion: Formalized even_collars support across the entire public API (including eq_find_s2_region).
[x] Verification Hardening: Implemented robust venv isolation in validation/verify_all.py and corrected sradius dimension logic.
[x] Histogram Boundary Safety: Added index clamping to lookup_s2_region to prevent IndexError at poles.
[x] CLI Standardization: Refined --even-collars flag logic for intuitive explicit opt-in and added os.pathsep portability.
[x] Local Config & Environment Standardization: Isolated AI assistant skills and standardized documentation with generic placeholders (VENV) for improved portability and privacy.
[x] Documentation Parity: Conducted a thorough audit of the benchmark suite documentation to ensure \(S^2\) and \(S^3\) default dimensions are explicitly noted across the User and Maintenance guides.
[x] Doc Re-organization: Refactored guides to use alphabetical appendices and renamed the Migration Guide to “Migration from MATLAB” with integrated performance baselines.

Phase 4: Open Beta & Community Engagement

Goal: Finalize production-ready artifacts, incorporate community feedback, and establish a long-term strategic evolution.

1.0b1 Open Beta: Feedback Hub & Community Infrastructure

Released: 2026-04-21 | Git Tag: release_1_0b1 | Distribution: PyPI / GitHub

[x] Feedback Hub: Integrated a sidebar CTA and global version warning banner into the documentation.
[x] Beta Feedback Channel: Added a specialized GitHub Issue template for verification reports and success stories.
[x] Code of Conduct: Adopted the Contributor Covenant to foster a welcoming community.
[x] Enhanced Issue Routing: Clearly partitioned detailed bug reports from general beta testing observations.
[x] Portability Audit: Added explicit POSIX/Linux caveats for the maintenance environment.
[x] Metadata Sync: Formally bumped project status to Development Status :: 4 - Beta and synchronized version counters (1.0b1).

1.0 General Release [PLANNED]

[ ] User Feedback Audit: Address final community feedback from the beta cycle.
[x] Master ToC Refinement (index.rst): Redesigned the master Table of Contents to resolve appendix numbering conflicts and correctly sequence volume references.
[ ] Visual Audit: Final side-by-side verification of example figures vs. PhD Thesis PDF.
[ ] Release Verification: Verified 1.0 release artifacts and distribution.
[ ] Final 1.0 Tag: Canonical production release tag.

Phase 5: Post-1.0 [UNDER CONSIDERATION]

Quality & Type Safety

[ ] Gradual Typing: Implement PEP 484 type hints for core package parameters (dim, N, s).
[ ] Validation Hardening: Update check_links.py to verify inline code snippet paths.
[ ] Centralized Task Runner: Evaluate nox or a unified Makefile for task orchestration.
[ ] Doctest Hardening: Fully automate the verification of all documentation code snippets.

Performance & Optimization

[ ] Cut-down Performance Regression (Tier 2): Formalize automated performance gating against a baseline JSON.
[ ] Dot Product Energy Optimization: Evaluate faster \(2(1 - X^T X)\) dot-product approach for points on the unit sphere.
[ ] Vectorized Area Calculations: Update eq_area_error to calculate area once per collar and broadcast.
[ ] Acceleration Research: Evaluate Numba or Cython for core recursive partitioning loops.

Maintenance & Automation

[ ] Maintenance Consolidation: Full Pylint-audit and refactor of all legacy benchmark and profiling scripts.
[ ] Vale Full Automation: Integrate vale project-wide to enforce Australian English.
[ ] Lychee Integration: Transition to the Lychee link checker for deep markdown analysis.

Research & Dimensionality

[ ] Dimensionality Expansion: Establish reference baselines and mathematical invariant tests for \(d \ge 4\).