Re-arrange contents of RELEASE.md to clarify ordering of steps

regardless of the release type (stable or RC).

Signed-off-by: Callum Styan <callumstyan@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
Callum Styan 2020-02-13 14:00:09 -08:00
parent fe76ccbfe3
commit ab18b07664

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@ -46,13 +46,15 @@ We use [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).
We maintain a separate branch for each minor release, named `release-<major>.<minor>`, e.g. `release-1.1`, `release-2.0`.
For a release candidate, append something like `-rc.0` to the version (with the corresponding changes to the tag name, the release name etc.).
The usual flow is to merge new features and changes into the master branch and to merge bug fixes into the latest release branch. Bug fixes are then merged into master from the latest release branch. The master branch should always contain all commits from the latest release branch. As long as master hasn't deviated from the release branch, new commits can also go to master, followed by merging master back into the release branch.
If a bug fix got accidentally merged into master after non-bug-fix changes in master, the bug-fix commits have to be cherry-picked into the release branch, which then have to be merged back into master. Try to avoid that situation.
Maintaining the release branches for older minor releases happens on a best effort basis.
### Updating dependencies
### 0. Updating dependencies
A few days before a major or minor release, consider updating the dependencies:
@ -75,16 +77,21 @@ you can skip the dependency update or only update select dependencies. In such a
case, you have to create an issue or pull request in the GitHub project for
later follow-up.
### Prepare your release
### 1. Prepare your release
For a patch release, work in the branch of the minor release you want to patch.
Create a new release branch.
For a patch release, work in the branch of the minor release you want to patch. So for 2.16.1, create a new branch off of 2.16.0.
For a new major or minor release, create the corresponding release branch based on the master branch.
** Note: ** this means that for a release candidate you should also create the non-release candidate branch (2.16.0 vs 2.16.0-rc.0) and merge the RC versions into it as you go.
Bump the version in the `VERSION` file and update `CHANGELOG.md`. Do this in a proper PR pointing to the release branch as this gives others the opportunity to chime in on the release in general and on the addition to the changelog in particular.
Note that `CHANGELOG.md` should only document changes relevant to users of Prometheus, including external API changes, performance improvements, and new features. Do not document changes of internal interfaces, code refactorings and clean-ups, changes to the build process, etc. People interested in these are asked to refer to the git history.
For release candidates still update `CHANGELOG.md`, but when you cut the final release later, merge all the changes from the pre-releases into the one final update.
Entries in the `CHANGELOG.md` are meant to be in this order:
* `[CHANGE]`
@ -92,7 +99,7 @@ Entries in the `CHANGELOG.md` are meant to be in this order:
* `[ENHANCEMENT]`
* `[BUGFIX]`
### Draft the new release
### 2. Draft the new release
Tag the new release with a tag named `v<major>.<minor>.<patch>`, e.g. `v2.1.3`. Note the `v` prefix.
@ -108,21 +115,15 @@ Signing a tag with a GPG key is appreciated, but in case you can't add a GPG key
Once a tag is created, the release process through CircleCI will be triggered for this tag and Circle CI will draft the GitHub release using the `prombot` account.
Now all you can do is to wait for tarballs to be uploaded to the Github release and the container images to be pushed to the Docker Hub and Quay.io. Once that has happened, click _Publish release_, which will make the release publicly visible and create a GitHub notification.
Finally, wait for the build step for the tag to finish. The point here is to wait for tarballs to be uploaded to the Github release and the container images to be pushed to the Docker Hub and Quay.io. Once that has happened, click _Publish release_, which will make the release publicly visible and create a GitHub notification.
** Note: ** for a release candidate version the _This is a pre-release_ box when drafting the release in the Github UI.
### Wrapping up
### 3. Wrapping up
For release candidate versions, run the benchmark for 3 days using the `/benchmark x.y.z` command, `x.y.z` being the latest stable patch release of the previous minor release series.
If the release has happened in the latest release branch, merge the changes into master.
To update the docs, a PR needs to be created to `prometheus/docs`. See [this PR](https://github.com/prometheus/docs/pull/952/files) for inspiration (note: only actually merge this for final releases, not for pre-releases like a release candidate).
Once the binaries have been uploaded, announce the release on `prometheus-announce@googlegroups.com`. (Please do not use `prometheus-users@googlegroups.com` for announcements anymore.) Check out previous announcement mails for inspiration.
### Pre-releases
The following changes to the above procedures apply:
* In line with [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/), append something like `-rc.0` to the version (with the corresponding changes to the tag name, the release name etc.).
* Tick the _This is a pre-release_ box when drafting the release in the Github UI.
* Still update `CHANGELOG.md`, but when you cut the final release later, merge all the changes from the pre-releases into the one final update.
* Run the benchmark for 3 days using the `/benchmark x.y.z` command, `x.y.z` being the latest stable patch release of the previous minor release series.
Once the binaries have been uploaded, announce the release on `prometheus-announce@googlegroups.com`. (Please do not use `prometheus-users@googlegroups.com` for announcements anymore.) Check out previous announcement mails for inspiration.