releases.md

Releases

So you've made a change that you want to get out to users. Great! Let's get that released!

We'll assume that you want to release all changes currently on master. You should not release anything from another branch.

1. First, make sure that you update the release notes.
   1. Create a PR that updates the Changelog.md.
   2. Rename the "Unreleased" section and to the next version, incrementing the version number as appropriate.
   3. Make sure that change makes it to the master branch before continuing.
2. Ensure that your local master branch is up to date and then create a tag for the new release. The commands would look something like the following.

   git checkout master
   git pull origin
   
   export TAG_NAME="vX.Y.Z"
   git tag --annotate $TAG_NAME -m "Releases $TAG_NAME"
   git push origin $TAG_NAME

   Replace vX.Y.Z with your version number, such as v3.1.4. The tag must start with v.
3. GitHub Actions will take the tag and run some tests before generating a draft release which can be found on the releases page.
4. If nothing has changed to dissuade you it's time to publish.
   1. Add the notes for this release from Changelog.md to the release description.
   2. Hit "publish" at the bottom.
5. Inform our users!