Release Process

Release Process

This document describes the steps that were done when v2018.1.2 was released.

Target Branch

The target branch can be master for a major release, or a stable branch for minor releases. Major versions are always tagged on the master branch before forking, so git describe returns useful version identifiers.

1. Create a branch off the to be released branch:
   • Major release: git checkout -b release/v2021.1 master
   • Minor release: git checkout -b release-notes/v2018.1.2 v2018.1.x
2. Create release notes at docs/releases/<tag>.rst
   • $EDITOR docs/releases/v2018.1.2.rst
3. Reference the new release notes in docs/index.rst
   • $EDITOR docs/index.rst
4. Commit and Push
   • git commit -S -m "docs: Add v2018.1.2 release notes"
   • git push
5. Create Pull Request against the target branch and make changes addressing issues mentioned
   • $EDITOR docs/releases/v2018.1.2.rst
   • $EDITOR docs/releases/index.rst
   • git commit --amend
   • git push --force
6. Update references to the latest version in
   • README.md
   • contrib/ci/minimal-site/site.conf
   • contrib/ci/olsr-site/site.conf
   • docs/conf.py
   • docs/site-example/site.conf
   • docs/user/getting_started.rst
7. Verify & Commit
   • make lint (until the last supported release without lint-editorconfig (2022.1.x) is not anymore.)
   • git commit -S -m "docs, README: Gluon v2018.1.2"
   • git push
8. Merge Pull Request into target branch
9. Create and push a signed tag
   • git checkout v2018.1.x
   • git pull
   • git tag -s v2018.1.2 -m "Gluon v2018.1.2"
   • git push origin v2018.1.2
10. Create a stable branch (major releases only)
    • git checkout -b v2021.1.x master
    • git push -u origin v2021.1.x
    • Enable the documentation build for the new stable branch on https://readthedocs.org/projects/gluon/versions/
11. Create a release over on Github
    • "Draft a new release" on https://github.com/freifunk-gluon/gluon/releases
    • Add the URL to the release notes on https://gluon.readthedocs.org to the description

Master Branch

If the release was a minor one, then the latest documentation and version references need to be forward-ported to the master branch, so that they appear on GitHub and in the documentation on https://gluon.readthedocs.org.

13. Switch to master branch
    • git checkout master
    • git pull
14. Cherry pick the first commit to your local master branch
15. Update version references in
    • README.md
    • docs/user/getting_started.rst
16. Squash changes into the cherry-picked commit
    • git commit --amend -S
17. Push to master branch

Publish announcements

18. Write a signed announce mail (you need to be subscribed to these lists in order not to have the mail bounced)
    • To: gluon@luebeck.freifunk.net
    • CC: firmware-devel@freifunk.net
    • CC: wlanware@freifunk.net
19. Change Topic of #gluon on hackint.org