Call for proposals

Each goal milestone corresponds to six months, designated in the format YYYYhN, e.g., 2024h2 or 2025h1. To launch a new goal season, you should get started a couple of months before the new season starts:

• For an H1 season, start around mid October of the year before.
• For an H2 season, start around mid April of the year before.

Using the automated setup command

The easiest way to set up a new Call For Proposals (CFP) period is to use the cargo rpg cfp command. This command automates the process of creating the necessary directory structure, copying template files, and updating both the SUMMARY.md and README.md files.

# Basic usage
cargo rpg cfp 2025h2

# Force overwrite without asking for confirmation
cargo rpg cfp 2025h2 --force

# Dry run - don't make any changes, just show what would be done
cargo rpg cfp 2025h2 --dry-run

The command will:

1. Create a new directory for the specified timeframe (e.g., src/2025h2/)
2. Copy and process template files from src/admin/samples/ to the new directory
3. Update the SUMMARY.md file to include the new timeframe section
4. Update the main README.md with information about the new timeframe

Manual steps required

After running the cargo rpg cfp command, there are still important manual steps that need to be completed:

1. Prepare and publish a blog post

You need to prepare a Call For Proposals blog post on the Inside Rust blog:

• Use this sample as a starting point
• Copy the sample to the blog.rust-lang.org repository as a new post
• Replace placeholders like YYYYHN with the actual timeframe (e.g., 2025H2)
• We use Inside Rust and not the Main blog because the target audience is would-be Rust contributors and maintainers

2. Email the mailing list

Send an email to the all[The Rust Programming Language][].org mailing list to announce the Call For Proposals:

• Include a link to the blog post
• Summarize the key dates and process
• Encourage team participation and feedback
• This step is crucial for ensuring all Rust team members are aware of the upcoming goal period

Manual setup checklist

If you prefer to set up the CFP manually, or need to customize the process beyond what the automated command provides, here's a checklist of steps:

• Prepare a Call For Proposals blog post on the Inside Rust blog based on this sample.
  • We use Inside Rust and not the Main blog because the target audience is would-be Rust contributors and maintainers.
• Update the main README page to indicate that the next round of goals is begin accepted.
  • Sample text to include.
• Create a new directory src/YYYYhN, e.g., src/2025h1, with the following files. Note that the sample files below include <!-- XXX --> directives that are detected by the mdbook plugin and replaced with appropriate content automatically.
  • A src/YYYYhN/README.md file that contains the draft RFC.
    • You can start with this sample file.
  • A src/YYYYhN/goals.md file containing the draft goal listing.
    • You can start with this sample file.
  • A src/YYYYhN/not_accepted.md file containing the list of goals that were not accepted.
    • You can start with this sample file.
• Modify SUMMARY.md to include your new milestone with some text like what is shown below.

Sample SUMMARY.md comments from 2025H1:

# ⏳ 2025H1 goal process

- [Overview](./2025h1/README.md)
- [Proposed goals](./2025h1/goals.md)
- [Goals not accepted](./2025h1/not_accepted.md)

Receiving PRs

to be written