lix/maintainers/release-process.md
2023-03-02 10:01:24 +01:00

4.8 KiB

Nix release process

Release artifacts

The release process is intended to create the following for each release:

Creating a new release from the master branch

  • Make sure that the Hydra master jobset succeeds.

  • In a checkout of the Nix repo, make sure you're on master and run git pull.

  • Move the contents of doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md (except the first line) to doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md (where $VERSION is the contents of .version without the patch level, e.g. 2.12 rather than 2.12.0).

  • Add a header to doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md like

    # Release 2.12 (2022-12-06)
    
  • Proof-read / edit / rearrange the release notes. Breaking changes and highlights should go to the top.

  • Add a link to the release notes to doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in (not SUMMARY.md), e.g.

    - [Release 2.12 (2022-12-06)](release-notes/rl-2.12.md)
    
  • Run

    $ git checkout -b release-notes
    $ git add doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md
    $ git commit -a -m 'Release notes'
    $ git push --set-upstream $REMOTE release-notes
    
  • Create a PR for release-notes.

  • Wait for the PR to be merged.

  • Create a branch for the release:

    $ git checkout master
    $ git pull
    $ git checkout -b $VERSION-maintenance
    
  • Mark the release as stable:

    $ git cherry-pick f673551e71942a52b6d7ae66af8b67140904a76a
    

    This removes the link to rl-next.md from the manual and sets officialRelease = true in flake.nix.

  • Push the release branch:

    $ git push --set-upstream origin $VERSION-maintenance
    
  • Create a jobset for the release branch on Hydra as follows:

    • Go to the jobset of the previous release (e.g. https://hydra.nixos.org/jobset/nix/maintenance-2.11).

    • Select Actions -> Clone this jobset.

    • Set identifier to maintenance-$VERSION.

    • Set description to $VERSION release branch.

    • Set flake URL to github:NixOS/nix/$VERSION-maintenance.

    • Hit Create jobset.

  • Wait for the new jobset to evaluate and build. If impatient, go to the evaluation and select Actions -> Bump builds to front of queue.

  • When the jobset evaluation has succeeded building, take note of the evaluation ID (e.g. 1780832 in https://hydra.nixos.org/eval/1780832).

  • Tag the release and upload the release artifacts to releases.nixos.org and Docker Hub:

    $ IS_LATEST=1 ./maintainers/upload-release.pl <EVAL-ID>
    

    Note: IS_LATEST=1 causes the latest-release branch to be force-updated. This is used by the nixos.org website to get the latest Nix manual.

    TODO: This script requires the right AWS credentials. Document.

    TODO: This script currently requires a /home/eelco/Dev/nix-pristine and /home/eelco/Dev/nixpkgs-pristine.

    TODO: trigger nixos.org netlify: https://docs.netlify.com/configure-builds/build-hooks/

  • Prepare for the next point release by editing .version to e.g.

    $ echo 2.12.1 > .version
    $ git commit -a -m 'Bump version'
    $ git push
    

    Commit and push this to the maintenance branch.

  • Bump the version of master:

    $ git checkout master
    $ git pull
    $ NEW_VERSION=2.13.0
    $ echo -n $NEW_VERSION > .version
    $ git checkout -b bump-$NEW_VERSION
    $ git commit -a -m 'Bump version'
    $ git push --set-upstream origin bump-$NEW_VERSION
    

    Make a pull request and auto-merge it.

  • Create a milestone for the next release, move all unresolved issues from the previous milestone, and close the previous milestone. Set the date for the next milestone 6 weeks from now.

  • Create a backport label.

  • Post an announcement on Discourse, including the contents of rl-$VERSION.md.

Creating a point release

  • Wait for the desired evaluation of the maintenance jobset to finish building.

  • Run

    $ IS_LATEST=1 ./maintainers/upload-release.pl <EVAL-ID>
    

    Omit IS_LATEST=1 when creating a point release that is not on the most recent stable branch. This prevents nixos.org to going back to an older release.

  • Bump the version number of the release branch as above (e.g. to 2.12.2).

Recovering from mistakes

upload-release.pl should be idempotent. For instance a wrong IS_LATEST value can be fixed that way, by running the script on the actual latest release.