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RELEASE_PROCEDURE.md

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Release Procedure

The release procedure below can be performed by a project member with "maintainer" or higher privileges on the GitHub repository. It assumes that you will be working in an up-to-date local clone of the GitHub repository, where the upstream remote points to github.com/hpcng/singularity.

Prior to Release

  1. Set a target date for the release candidate (if required) and release. Generally 2 weeks from RC -> release is appropriate for new 3.X.0 minor versions.
  2. Aim to specifically discuss the release timeline and progress in community meetings at least 2 months prior to the scheduled date.
  3. Use a GitHub milestone to track issues and PRs that will form part of the next release.
  4. Ensure that the CHANGELOG.md is kept up-to-date on the master branch, with all relevant changes listed under a "Changes Since Last Release" section.
  5. Monitor and merge dependabot updates, such that a release is made with as up-to-date versions of dependencies as possible. This lessens the burden in addressing patch release fixes that require dependency updates, as we use several dependencies that move quickly.

Creating the Release Branch and Release Candidate

When a new 3.Y.0 minor version of Singularity is issued the release process begins by branching, and then issuing a release candidate for broader testing.

When a new 3.Y.Z patch release is issued, the branch will already be present, and steps 1-2 should be skipped.

  1. From a repository that is up-to-date with master, create a release branch e.g. git checkout upstream/master -b release-3.8.
  2. Push the release branch to GitHub via git push upstream release-3.8.
  3. Examine the GitHub branch protection rules, to extend them to the new release branch if needed.
  4. Modify the README.md, INSTALL.md, CHANGELOG.md via PR against the release branch, so that they reflect the version to be released.
  5. Apply an annotated tag via git tag -a -m "Singularity v3.8.0 Release Candidate 1" v3.8.0-rc.1.
  6. Push the tag via git push upstream v3.8.0-rc.1.
  7. Create a tarball via ./mconfig --only-rpm -v && make dist.
  8. Test intallation from the tarball.
  9. Compute the sha256sum of the tarball e.g. sha256sum *.tar.gz > sha256sums.
  10. Create a GitHub release, marked as a 'pre-release', incorporating CHANGELOG.md information, and attaching the tarball and sha256sums.
  11. Notify the community about the RC via the Google Group and Slack.

There will often be multiple release candidates issued prior to the final release of a new 3.Y.0 minor version.

A small 3.Y.Z patch release may not require release candidates where the code changes are contained, confirmed by the person reporting the bug(s), and well covered by tests.

Creating a Final Release

  1. Ensure the user and admin documentation is up-to-date for the new version, branched, and tagged.
  2. Ensure the user and admin documentation has been deployed to the singularity.hpcng.org website.
  3. Modify the README.md, INSTALL.md, CHANGELOG.md via PR against the release branch, so that they reflect the version to be released.
  4. Apply an annotated tag via git tag -a -m "Singularity v3.8.0" v3.8.0.
  5. Push the tag via git push upstream v3.8.0-rc.1.
  6. Create a tarball via ./mconfig -v && make dist.
  7. Test intallation from the tarball.
  8. Compute the sha256sum of the tarball e.g. sha256sum *.tar.gz > sha256sums.
  9. Create a GitHub release, incorporating CHANGELOG.md information, and attaching the tarball and sha256sums.
  10. Notify the community about the RC via the Google Group and Slack.

After the Release

  1. Create and merge a PR from the release-3.x branch into master, so that history from the RC process etc. is captured on master.
  2. If the release is a new major/minor version, move the prior release-3.x branch to vault/release-3.x.
  3. If the release is a new major/minor version, update the .github/dependabot.yml configuration so that dependabot is tracking the new stable release branch.
  4. Start scheduling / setting up milestones etc. to track the next release!