path: root/RELEASE_PROCESS.md

# Podman Releases

## Overview

Podman (and podman-remote) versioning is mostly based on [semantic-versioning
standards](https://semver.org).
Significant versions
are tagged, including *release candidates* (`rc`).
All relevant **minor** releases (`vX.Y`) have their own branches.  The **latest**
development efforts occur on the *master* branch.  Branches with a
*rhel* suffix are use for long-term support of downstream RHEL releases.

## Release workflow expectations

* You have push access to the [upstream podman repository](https://github.com/containers/podman.git)
* You understand all basic `git` operations and concepts, like creating commits,
  local vs. remote branches, rebasing, and conflict resolution.
* You have access to your public and private *GPG* keys.
* You have reliable internet access (i.e. not the public WiFi link at McDonalds)
* Other podman maintainers are online/available for assistance if needed.
* For a **major** release, you have 4-8 hours of time available, most of which will
  be dedicated to writing release notes.
* For a **minor** or **patch** release, you have 2-4 hours of time available
  (minimum depends largely on the speed/reliability of automated testing)

# Releases

## Major (***X***.y.z) release

These releases always begin from *master*, and are contained in a branch
named with the **major** and **minor** version. **Major** release branches
begin in a *release candidate* phase, with prospective release tags being
created with an `-rc` suffix.  There may be multiple *release candidate*
tags before the final/official **major** version is tagged and released.

## Significant minor (x.**Y**.z) and patch (x.y.**Z**) releases

Significant **minor** and **patch** level releases are normally
branched from *master*, but there are occsaional exceptions.
Additionally, these branches may be named with `-rhel` (or another)
suffix to signify a specialized purpose.  For example, `-rhel` indicates
a release intended for downstream *RHEL* consumption.

## Unreleased Milestones

Non-release versions may occasionally appear tagged on a branch, without
the typical (major) receive media postings or artifact distribution.  For
example, as required for the (separate) RHEL release process.  Otherwise
these tags are simply milestones of reference purposes and may
generally be safely ignored.

## Process

***Note:*** This is intended as a guideline, and generalized process.
Not all steps are applicable in all situations.  Not all steps are
spelled with complete minutiae.

1. Make a `[CI:DOCS]` release notes pull request.

   1. Ensure any/all intended PR's are completed and merged prior to any
      processing of release notes.  Ensure your local clone is fully up to
      date with the remote upstream (`git remote update`).
   1. Check out (create) a local working branch for a release-notes PR,
      based on the latest `upstream/master` or pre-existing version-named
      branch - for example, if this is an additional *release-candidate*
      you might use `vX.Y.Z-rc2`;  **Note** this is a local branch name,
      an upstream branch would never contain the `-rc?` suffix.
   1. Find all merged PRs since the last release, which were performed by
      the merge-robot.  For example, given the commit range `1234...5678`
      you would run `git log --oneline --author=openshift-merge-robot 1234...5678`.
      Keep this list open/available for reference as you edit.
   1. Edit `RELEASE_NOTES.md`

      * If operating on a *release-candidate*, be sure to remove any
        not-applicable items/sections.  For example, those brought in
        because of backports.
      * Add/update the version-section of with sub-sections for *Features*
        (new functionality), *Changes* (Altered podman behaviors),
        *Bugfixes* (self-explanatory), *API* (All related features,
        changes, and bugfixes), and *Misc* (include any **major**
        library bumps, e.g. `c/buildah`, `c/storage`, `c/common`, etc).
      * Use your merge-bot reference PR-listing to examine each PR in turn,
        adding an entry for it into the appropriate section.

        * Be sure to link any issue the PR fixed.
        * Do not include any PRs that are only documentation or test/automation
          changes.
        * Do not include any PRs that fix bugs which we introduced due to
          new features/enhancements.  In other words, if it was working, broke, then
          got fixed, there's no need to mention those items.

   1. Commit and **sign** the `RELEASE_NOTES.md` changes, using the description
      `Create release notes for vX.Y.Z` (where `X`, `Y`, and `Z` are the
      actual version numbers).
   1. Push your working branch to your github fork and create a new pull request.

      * ***Ensure*** you properly select the base branch if not *master*.
        For example, `vX.y.Z`.
      * ***Before submitting*** the new PR, update the title with the
        prefix `[CI:DOCS]` to avoid triggering lengthy automated testing.

   1. If this is a release on a pre-existing version-named branch
      (e.x. *release-candidate* or `-rhel`), open another PR against
      the upstream *master* branch.  This is needed to ensure the new
      notes are present for future releases.


1. Create a new upstream release branch (if none already exist).

   1. After the release-notes pull requests have merged, a release branch is
      needed.  Branching ensures all changes are curated before inclusion in the
      release, and no new features land after the *release-candidate* phases
      are complete.
   1. Ensure your local clone is fully up to date with the remote upstream
      (`git remote update`).  Switch to this branch (`git checkout upstream/master`).
   1. Make a new local branch for the release based on *master*.  For example,
      `git checkout -b vX.Y`.  Where `X.Y` represent the complete release
      version-name, including any suffix (if any) like `-rhel`.  ***DO NOT***
      include any `-rc` suffix in the branch name.
   1. Edit the `.cirrus.yml` file, changing the `DEST_BRANCH` value (under the
      `env` section) to the new, complete branch name (e.x. `vX.Y`).
       Commit and sign, using the description
      `Cirrus: Update operating branch`.
   1. Push the new branch otherwise unmodified (`git push upstream vX.Y`).
   1. Automation will begin executing on the branch immediately.  Because
      the repository allows out-of-sequence PR merging, it is possible that
      merge order introduced bugs/defects.  To establish a clean
      baseline, observe the initial CI run on the branch for any unexpected
      failures.  This can be done by going directly to
      `https://cirrus-ci.com/github/containers/podman/vX.Y`
   1. If there are CI test or automation boops that need fixing on the branch,
      attend to them using normal PR process (to *master* first, then backport
      changes to the new branch).  Ideally, CI should be "green" on the new
      branch before proceeding.

1. Create a new branch-verification Cirrus-Cron entry.

   1. This is to ensure CI's VM image timestamps are refreshed.  Without this,
      the VM images ***will*** be permanently pruned after 60 days of inactivity
      and are hard/impossible to re-create accurately.
   1. Go to
      [https://cirrus-ci.com/github/containers/podman](https://cirrus-ci.com/github/containers/podman)
      and press the "gear" (Repository Settings) button on the top-right.
   1. At the bottom of the settings page is a table of cron-job names, branches,
      schedule, and recent status.  Below that is an editable new-entry line.
   1. Set the new job's `name` and `branch` to the name of new release branch.
   1. Set the `expression` using the form `X X X ? * 1-6` where 'X' is a number
      between 0-23 and not already taken by another job in the table.  The 1-hour
      interval is used because it takes about that long for the job to run.
   1. Add the new job by pressing the `+` button on the right-side of the
      new-entry line.

1. Update version numbers and push tag

   **TODO:** This process can be simplified by updating the script for the
   "Optional Release Test" such that it tests the first commit, not the second.
   In this way, pushing twice to the same PR won't be required.

   1. Assuming CI Test and automation ran clean on the release branch,
      update your local repo to be fully up to date with the remote upstream
      (`git remote update`).  Check out a local copy of the upstream
      release branch (`git checkout upstream/vX.Y`).
   1. Create a new local working-branch to develop the release PR,
      `git checkout -b bump_vX.Y.Z`.
   1. Lookup the *COMMIT ID* of the last release,
      `git log -1 $(git tag | sort -V | tail -1)`.
   1. Edit `version/version.go` and bump the `Version` value to the new
      release version.  If there were API changes, also bump `APIVersion` value.
   1. Commit this and sign the commit (`git commit -a -s -S`). The commit message
      should be `Bump to vX.Y.Z` (using the actual version numbers).
   1. Push this single change to your github fork, and make a new PR,
      **being careful** to select the proper release branch as its base.
   1. Wait for all automated tests pass (including on an RC-branch PR).  Re-running
      and/or updating code as needed.
   1. In the PR, under the *Checks* tab, locate and clock on the Cirrus-CI
      task `Optional Release Test`.  In the right-hand window pane, click
      the `trigger` button and wait for the test to go green.  *This is a
      critical step* which confirms the commit is worthy of becoming a release.
   1. Tag the `Bump to vX.Y.Z` commit as a release by running
      `git tag -s -m 'vX.Y.Z' vX.Y.Z $HASH` where `$HASH` is specified explicitly
      and carefully, to avoid (basically) unfixable accidents (if they are pushed).
   1. Change `version/version.go` again. This time, bump the **patch** version and
      re-add the `-dev` suffix to indicate this is a non-released version of Podman.
   1. Change `contrib/spec/podman.spec.in`, bumping **patch** number of `Version`.
   1. Commit these changes with the message `Bump to X.Y.Z-dev`.
   1. Push your local branch to your github fork (and the PR) again.
   1. The PR should now have two commits that look very similar to
      https://github.com/containers/podman/pull/7787
   1. Wait for at least all the "Build" and "Verify" (or similar) CI Testing
      steps to complete successfully.  No need to wait for complete integration
      4and system-testing (it was already done on substantially the same code, above).
   1. Merge the PR (or ask someone else to review and merge, to be safer).
   1. **Note:** This is the last point where any test-failures can be addressed
      by code changes. After pushing the new version-tag upstream, no further
      changes can be made to the code without lots of unpleasant efforts.  Please
      seek assistance if needed, before proceeding.

   1. Assuming the "Bump to ..." PR merged successfully, and you're **really**
      confident the correct commit has been tagged, push it with
      `git push upstream vX.Y.Z`

1. Locate, Verify release testing is proceeding

   1. When the tag was pushed, an automated build was created. Locate this
      by starting from
      `https://github.com/containers/podman/tags` and finding the recent entry
      for the pushed tag.  Under the tag name will be a timestamp and abbrieviated
      commit hash, for example `<> 5b2585f`.  Click the commit-hash link.
   1. In the upper-left most corner, just to the left of the "Bump to vX.Y"
      text, will be a small status icon (Yellow circle, Red "X", or green check).
      Click this, to open a small pop-up/overlay window listing all the status
      checks.
   1. In the small pop-up/overlay window, press the "Details" link on one of the
      Cirrus-CI status check entries (doesn't matter which one).
   1. On the following page, in the lower-right pane, will be a "View more details
      on Cirrus CI" link, click this.
   1. A Cirrus-CI task details page will open, click the button labeled
      "View All Tasks".
   1. Keep this page open to monitor its progress and for use in future steps.

1. Bump master `-dev` version

   1. If you made a release branch and bumped **major** or **minor** version
      Complete the "Update version numbers and push tag" steps above on the
      *master* branch.  Bump the **minor** version and set the **patch**
      version to 0.  For example, after pushing the v2.2.0 release, *master*
      should be set to v2.3.0-dev.
   1. Create a "Bump to vX.Y.Z-dev" commit with these changes.
   1. Bump the version number in `README.md` (still on on *master*)
      to reflect the new release.  Commit these changes.
   1. Create a PR with the above commits, and oversee it's merging.

1. Create Github Release entry and upload assets

   1. Return to the Cirrus-CI Build page for the new release tag, confirm
      (or wait for) it to complete, re-running any failed tasks as appropriate.
   1. For anything other than an RC, download the new release artifacts from CI
      (the binaries which were actually tested).  The items are
      located under the *checks* tab in github for:

      * `Cirrus CI / Alt Arch. Cross` - tarball for each architecture
      * `Cirrus CI / OSX Cross` - two zip files (amd64 and arm64)
      * `Cirrus CI / Windows Cross` - an `msi` file
      * `Cirrus CI / Static Build` - the `bin/podman-remote` file

      Under the "Artifacts" section of each task, click the "gosrc" link,
      find and download the release archive (`zip`, `tar.gz` or `.msi`).
      Save the the archive with a meaningful name, for example
      `podman-v3.0.0.msi`.
   1. For the "Static Build" task, find the compiled `podman` and `podman-remote`
      binaries under the "binary", then "bin" links.  Tar these files as
      `podman-static.tar.gz`.
   1. The `podman-vX.Y.Z.dmg` file is produced manually by someone in
      possession of a developer signing key.
   1. In the directory where you downloaded the archives, run
      `sha256sum *.tar.gz *.zip *.msi > shasums` to generate SHA sums.
   1. Go to `https://github.com/containers/podman/releases/tag/vX.Y.Z` and
      press the "Edit Release" button.  Change the name to the form `vX.Y.Z`
   1. If this is a release candidate be certain to click the pre-release
      checkbox at the bottom of the page.
   1. Copy and paste the release notes for the release into the body of
      the release.
   1. Near the bottom of the page there is a box with the message
      “Add binaries by dropping them here or selecting them”.  Use
      that to upload the artifacts you previously downloaded, including
      the `shasums` file.

      * podman-remote-release-darwin.zip
      * podman-remote-release-windows.zip
      * podman-remote-static.tar.gz
      * podman-vX.Y.Z.msi
      * shasums
   1. Save the release.