Prepare 2.11.0 release

[rly]

Target release date: August 20, 2026

Bumped from the previously planned 2.10.1 to 2.11.0. This release adds a new optional attribute (Units.waveform_*.time_before_peak_in_ms), relaxes the fixed unit attribute on the waveform datasets to a default value, and incorporates hdmf-common-schema 1.10.0, which contains a breaking change to MeaningsTable.target. None of these are patch-level changes under the NWB Extensions Versioning Guidelines.

Before merging:

• Update requirements versions as needed (no changes needed; requirements-doc.txt deps are unpinned)
• Update legal file dates and information in Legal.txt, license.txt, README.md, docs/format/source/conf.py, and any other locations as needed (all already read 2017-2026)
• Update README.rst as needed (no changes needed)
• Update the version string in docs/format/source/conf.py, core/nwb.namespace.yaml, and core/nwb.file.yaml (remove "-alpha" suffix)
• Update docs/format/source/conf.py as needed
• Update release notes (set release date) in docs/format/source/format_release_notes.rst and any other docs as needed
• Test docs locally (cd docs/format; make fulldoc) and check for warnings and errors (HTML build succeeds with no warnings; the latexpdf step needs latexmk, which is not installed locally)
• Ensure PyNWB and MatNWB have branches that have passing tests when using the head of the dev branch or this branch of nwb-schema
• Push changes to this PR and make sure all PRs to be included in this release have been merged
• Check that the readthedocs build for this PR succeeds (see auto-triggered PR build): https://readthedocs.org/projects/nwb-schema/builds/

Changes in this PR

• Updated the hdmf-common-schema submodule from 1.9.0 (497bde3) to 1.10.0 (e7f84f0).
• Set the version string to 2.11.0 in docs/format/source/conf.py, core/nwb.namespace.yaml, and core/nwb.file.yaml.
• Retitled the release notes section to 2.11.0 (August 20, 2026) and added a "Major changes" entry for the hdmf-common-schema 1.10.0 MeaningsTable.target change.
• Moved the waveform unit change from "Bug fixes" to "Minor changes". Changing value: volts to default_value: volts widens what the schema accepts, so it is a schema feature change rather than a bug fix.

Why 2.11.0 and not 2.10.1

Three changes since 2.10.0 are above patch level:

1. time_before_peak_in_ms is a new optional attribute on Units.waveform_mean, Units.waveform_sd, and Units.waveforms. New optional fields have gone into minor releases (e.g. ImageSeries.num_samples in 2.10.0).
2. The unit attribute on those same datasets went from a fixed value of volts to a default_value of volts. A file written under this schema with a non-volts unit does not validate against 2.10.0.
3. hdmf-common-schema 1.10.0 changed MeaningsTable.target from a link to an object-reference attribute. The hdmf-common release notes label this a breaking change for files written with the 1.9.0 definition.

Every prior patch release of nwb-schema (2.2.1 through 2.2.5) contained only typo fixes, doc corrections, and non-functional restructuring. This release does not fit that pattern.

Item 3 is the one worth discussing on its own. A breaking change to an existing data type would normally call for a major version bump. MeaningsTable shipped for the first time in NWB 2.10.0 two months ago, so the population of files using the 1.9.0 layout should be very small, and a minor bump is the proportionate response. If any published data is known to use MeaningsTable, this decision should be revisited before merging.

After merging:

1. Create a new git tag. Pull the latest master branch locally, run git tag 2.11.0 --sign, copy and paste the release notes into the tag message, and run git push --tags.
2. On the GitHub tags page page, click "..." -> "Create release" for the new tag on the right side of the page. Copy and paste the release notes into the release message, update the formatting if needed (reST to Markdown), and set the title to the version string.
3. Check that the readthedocs "latest" and "stable" builds run and succeed. Delete the readthedocs build for the merged PR. https://readthedocs.org/projects/nwb-schema/builds/
4. Update the nwb-schema submodule in the PyNWB branch corresponding to this schema version to point to the tagged commit.

See https://nwb-schema.readthedocs.io/en/latest/software_process.html for more details.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[rly]

@ehennestad Could you please test matnwb with the schema in this branch?

[ehennestad]

@ehennestad Could you please test matnwb with the schema in this branch?

Will check by the end of the day

[rly]

Thanks! I don't expect any issues. But also, no need to rush this.

[ehennestad]

Thanks! I don't expect any issues. But also, no need to rush this.

Looks good, no issues for MatNWB

[rly]

Thanks @ehennestad for the quick confirmation!