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zulip/docs/subsystems/release-checklist.md

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Zulip server release checklist

This document has reminders of things one might forget to do when preparing a new release.

A week before the release

  • For a major release (e.g. 4.0):
    • Upgrade all Python dependencies in requirements to latest upstream versions so they can burn in (use pip list --outdated).
    • Upgrade all puppet dependencies in puppet/deps.yaml
    • Upgrade all puppet-installed dependencies (e.g. Smokescreen, go, etc) in puppet/zulip/manifests/common.pp
    • Upload strings to Transifex using push-translations. Post a Transifex Announcement notifying translators that we're approaching a release.
    • Merge draft updates to the changelog with changes since the last release. While doing so, take notes on things that might need follow-up work or documentation before we can happily advertise them in a release blog post.
    • Inspect all TODO/compatibility comments for whether we can remove any backwards-compatibility code in this release.
  • Create a burn-down list of issues that need to be fixed before we can release, and make sure all of them are being worked on.
  • Draft the release blog post (a.k.a. the release notes) in Paper. In it, list the important changes in the release, from most to least notable.

Final release preparation

  • Update the Paper blog post draft with any new commits.
  • Except minor releases: Download updated translation strings from Transifex and commit them.
  • Use build-release-tarball to generate a release tarball.
  • Test the new tarball extensively, both new install and upgrade from last release, on Ubuntu 20.04.
  • Repeat until release is ready.
  • Send around the Paper blog post draft for review.
  • Move the blog post draft to Ghost. (For a draft in Dropbox Paper, use "··· > Export > Markdown" to get a pretty good markup conversion.) Proofread the post, especially for formatting. Tag the post with "Release announcements" in Ghost.

Executing the release

  • Create the release commit, on main (for major releases) or on the release branch (for minor releases):

    • Copy the Markdown release notes for the release into docs/overview/changelog.md.
    • Except minor releases: Adjust the changelog.md heading to have the stable release series boilerplate.
    • Update ZULIP_VERSION and LATEST_RELEASE_VERSION in version.py.
    • Except minor releases: Update API_FEATURE_LEVEL to a feature level for the final release, and document a reserved range.

  • Tag that commit with an unsigned Git tag named the release number.

  • Use build-release-tarball to generate a final release tarball.

  • Push the tag and release commit.

  • Upload the tarball using tools/upload-release.

  • Post the release by editing the latest tag on GitHub; use the text from changelog.md for the release notes.

    Note: This will trigger the GitHub action for updating DigitalOcean one-click app image. The action uses the latest release tarball published on download.zulip.com for creating the image.

  • Update the Docker image and do a release of that.

  • Update the image of DigitalOcean one click app using Fabric and publish it to DO marketplace.

  • Publish the blog post; check the box to "send by email."

  • Email zulip-announce, post to #announce, and send a tweet.

Post-release

  • Update the CI targets in .github/workflows/production-suite.yml to include upgrades from the most recent point releases from the last two series -- e.g after releasing 4.8, both main and 4.x should test upgrades from 3.4 and 4.8, and after releasing 5.0 both main and 5.x should test upgrades from 4.8 and 5.0.
  • Following a major release (e.g. 4.0):
    • Create a release branch (e.g. 4.x).
    • On the release branch, update ZULIP_VERSION in version.py to the present release with a +git suffix, e.g. 4.0+git.
    • On main, update ZULIP_VERSION to the future major release with a -dev+git suffix, e.g. 5.0-dev+git. Make a Git tag for this update commit with a -dev suffix, e.g. 5.0-dev. Push the tag to both zulip.git and zulip-internal.git to get a correct version number for future Cloud deployments.
    • Consider removing a few old releases from ReadTheDocs; we keep about two years of back-versions.
  • Following a minor release (e.g. 3.2), on the release branch:
    • Update ZULIP_VERSION to the present release with a +git suffix, e.g. 3.2+git.
    • Update LATEST_RELEASE_VERSION with the released version.
    • Cherry-pick the changelog changes back to main.