Developer Guide Release Instructions

Release Instructions

decide whether the changes made PR should be released with the next minor or major version (see below)
if a PR should be released with the next major version no additional steps need to be taken. However, please ensure that the PR targets the master branch.
if a PR should be released with the next minor version:
- make sure the current PR targets the master branch.
- make an identical (or as close as possible) PR that also target the release candidate branch for the upcoming release.
- add the PR that targets the release candidate branch to the milestone for the upcoming release.

merge the master branch into the release branch and resolve all conflicts.
update the Changelog.md files in both the release and master branches by replacing the [unreleased] section with the new release's version number.
fully test the release branch in development.
update the app/MARKUS_VERSION file in the release and master branches.
make a new release targeting the release branch (mark it as a pre-release).
deploy the new release to a test instance on a production server and test the instance there as well.
un-mark the new release as a pre-release

merge the current release candidate branch into the release branch (there should be no conflicts).
update the Changelog.md file in the both the release and master branches by creating a new section for the new release and moving all relevant lines from the [unreleased] section to this new section.
do steps 3-7 from the major release section above

close any existing milestones and create a new milestone for the next minor release. For example, if you just released version 1.9.5, make a new milestone named v1.9.6.
delete the old release candidate branch (if it exists) and create a new release candidate branch based off of the current release branch. For example, if you just released version 1.9.5, delete the branch named v1.9.5.rc and create a branch named v1.9.6.rc