...
Some organizations (primarily 2U/edX) release all changes from the tip of the main branch (still named master in certain repos, like edx-platform).
Many organizations will only deploy come the next named release.
...
At this time, 2U/edX deploys all changes from the tip of the main branch (sometimes master)“master”) of the edx-platform repository . A technique referred to as blue-green deployments is used to provide end users with a zero downtime experience for web users. This means that when new code is deployed, the last version of the code may still be running at the same time.
...
Many organizations will take some downtime during an upgrade to a newer Open edX named release. These deployments do not have the same concerns as blue-green deployments, but there exist cases where changes must happen in multiple merges, spread out across named releases. Again, this special consideration must remembered by all, even if being made my by an organization that is deploying continuously from main.
One example is when squashing migrations, which can be read about in Everything About Database Migrations | Squashing Migrations.
Another example is when deprecating and removing code. Code removal may sometimes need to be deferred for the case sake of named releases.