diff --git a/docs/RELEASING.md b/docs/RELEASING.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57d75a0 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/RELEASING.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ +# Releasing urfave/cli + +Releasing small batches often is [backed by +research](https://itrevolution.com/accelerate-book/) as part of the +virtuous cycles that keep teams and products healthy. + +To that end, the overall goal of the release process is to send +changes out into the world as close to the time the commits were +merged to the `main` branch as possible. In this way, the community +of humans depending on this library are able to make use of the +changes they need **quickly**, which means they should'nt have to +maintain long-lived forks of the project, which means they can get +back to focusing on the work on which they want to focus. This also +means that the @urfave/cli team should be ablo to focus on +delivering a steadily improving product with significantly eased +ability to associate bugs and regressions with specific releases. + +## Process + +- Release versions follow [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/) +- Releases are associated with **signed, annotated git tags**[^1]. +- Release notes are **automatically generated**[^2]. + +In the `main` or `v1` branch, the current version is always +available via: + +```sh +git describe --always --dirty --tags +``` + +**NOTE**: if the version reported contains `-dirty`, this is +indicative of a "dirty" work tree, which is not a great state for +creating a new release tag. Seek help from @urfave/cli teammates. + +For example, given a described version of `v2.4.7-3-g68da1cd` and a +diff of `v2.4.7...` that contains only bug fixes, the next version +should be `v2.4.8`: + +```sh +git tag -a -s -m 'Release 2.4.8' v2.4.8 +git push origin v2.4.8 +``` + +The tag push will trigger a GitHub Actions workflow. The remaining +steps require human intervention through the GitHub web view +although [automated solutions +exist](https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release) that may be +adopted in the future. + +- Open the [the new release page](https://github.com/urfave/cli/releases/new) +- At the top of the form, click on the `Choose a tag` select control and select `v2.4.8` +- In the `Write` tab below, click the `Auto-generate release notes` button +- At the bottom of the form, click the `Publish release` button +- :white_check_mark: you're done! + +[^1]: This was not always true. There are many **lightweight git + tags** present in the repository history. + +[^2]: This was not always true. The + [`docs/CHANGELOG.md`](./CHANGELOG.md) document used to be + manually maintained.