ostree/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/release-checklist.md

Release process

The release process follows the usual PR-and-review flow, allowing an external reviewer to have a final check before publishing a release.

Requirements

This guide requires:

• a web browser (and network connectivity)
• git
• GPG setup and personal key for signing
• git-evtag
• write access to the git repository
• upload access to this project on GitHub

Release checklist

• Prepare local environment:

  • git remote get-url --push origin
  • validate that the output above points to git@github.com:ostreedev/ostree.git
  • git checkout main && git pull
  • git clean -fd
  • RELEASE_VER=yyyy.n (matching package_version in configure.ac)
  • git checkout -b release-${RELEASE_VER}

• Prepare the release commits:

  • sed -i -e 's/^is_release_build=no/is_release_build=yes/' configure.ac
  • move the new-symbols stanza (if any) from src/libostree/libostree-devel.sym to src/libostree/libostree-released.sym
  • comment the src/libostree/libostree-devel.sym include in Makefile-libostree.am
  • update tests/test-symbols.sh with the new digest from sha256sum src/libostree/libostree-released.sym
  • git commit -a -m "Release ${RELEASE_VER}"
  • RELEASE_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
  • ./autogen.sh && make dist
  • update year_version and release_version in configure.ac for the next development cycle
  • sed -i -e 's/^is_release_build=yes/is_release_build=no/' configure.ac
  • git commit -a -m 'configure: post-release version bump'

• Open a PR to create the release:

  • git push -u origin release-${RELEASE_VER}
  • open a web browser and create a PR for the branch above, titled Release ${RELEASE_VER}
  • make sure the resulting PR contains two commits
  • in the PR body, write a short summary of relevant changes since last release (using git shortlog too)

• get the PR reviewed, approved and merged

• Publish the tag:

  • git fetch origin && git checkout ${RELEASE_COMMIT}
  • git-evtag sign v${RELEASE_VER}
  • git push --tags origin v${RELEASE_VER}

• Publish the release and artifacts on GitHub:

  • find the new tag in the GitHub tag list and click the triple dots menu, then create a release for it
  • write a short changelog (i.e. re-use the PR content)
  • attach libostree-{RELEASE_VER}.tar.xz
  • publish release

• Clean up:

  • git clean -fd
  • git checkout main
  • git pull
  • git push origin :release-${RELEASE_VER}
  • git branch -d release-${RELEASE_VER}