generated: '2026-09-13'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/ROADMAP.md,
  https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md,
  https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md,
  https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/releases
name: Buildah lifecycle and versioning
surface: >-
  Buildah ships a CLI and a Go library. It runs no hosted service, so there is nothing for
  a status page or an SLA to cover — status_page and sla are `na` here rather than absent.
versioning:
  scheme: semver
  current: v1.45.0
  released: '2026-07-30'
  applies_to:
    - the buildah binary
    - the go.podman.io/buildah Go module
  policy_documented: false
  note: >-
    The project tags releases as vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH and has stayed on the 1.x line since
    2019, but publishes no written compatibility or API-stability policy for the Go
    packages. Consumers of the library (Podman is the largest) track the module through
    go.mod version bumps rather than a stated contract.
module_path_change:
  from: github.com/containers/buildah
  to: go.podman.io/buildah
  observed: '2026-09-13'
  evidence: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/go.mod
  impact: >-
    The Go import path changed when the project moved into the podman-container-tools
    GitHub organization. Both module paths currently resolve to the same v1.45.0 commit on
    proxy.golang.org because the repository rename is redirected, so existing builds do not
    break — but this is the single most consequential lifecycle event in the project's
    recent history and it is not announced in CHANGELOG.md.
deprecation:
  policy_published: false
  sunset_headers: na
  note: >-
    No deprecation policy document, no RFC 8594 Sunset/Deprecation headers (there is no HTTP
    surface to carry them). Command and flag deprecations are announced only in release
    notes and in `buildah <command> --help` output. The `Deprecation` pointer is therefore
    NOT wired.
support_window:
  policy_published: false
  observed: >-
    Patch releases were cut in 2026 for the 1.26, 1.29, 1.33, 1.39, 1.41, 1.43 and 1.44
    branches, so backports reach releases several years old — but no supported-versions
    table is published, so a consumer cannot tell which branches are still maintained.
status_page:
  applies: false
  reason: No hosted service. The `StatusPage` pointer is NOT wired.
sla:
  applies: false
  reason: Open-source project, Apache-2.0, no commercial support contract from the project itself.
roadmap:
  published: true
  url: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/ROADMAP.md
  cadence: Reviewed quarterly alongside the Podman development team; milestones recorded per quarter.
  themes:
    - Partial pull support (zstd:chunked)
    - Improved support for the BuildKit API
    - Performance and stability improvements
    - Reductions to the size of the Buildah binary
governance:
  published: true
  url: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md
  parent_project: Podman Container Tools (CNCF)
  parent_governance: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/community/blob/main/GOVERNANCE.md
  maintainers: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/MAINTAINERS.md
  note: >-
    Buildah adopted a formal governance model and MAINTAINERS file in 2025 Q1 as a tracked
    CNCF milestone in ROADMAP.md — a governance signal most catalog entries at this size
    do not have.
ai_policy:
  published: true
  url: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/buildah/blob/main/LLM_POLICY.md
  parent: https://github.com/podman-container-tools/community/blob/main/LLM_POLICY.md
  note: >-
    The project publishes an organization-wide LLM (AI) development policy governing
    AI-assisted contributions. Rare, and directly relevant to agent-era provenance.