The release process for BigchainDB server differs slightly depending on whether it's a minor or a patch release.
BigchainDB follows semantic versioning (i.e. MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH), taking into account that major version 0.x does not export a stable API.
A minor release is preceeded by a feature freeze and created from the 'master' branch. This is a summary of the steps we go through to release a new minor version of BigchainDB Server.
- Update the
CHANGELOG.md
file in master - Create and checkout a new branch for the minor release, named after the minor version, without a preceeding 'v', e.g.
git checkout -b 0.9
(not 0.9.0, this new branch will be for e.g. 0.9.0, 0.9.1, 0.9.2, etc. each of which will be identified by a tagged commit) - In
bigchaindb/version.py
, update__version__
and__short_version__
, e.g. to0.9
and0.9.0
(with no.dev
on the end) - Commit that change, and push the new branch to GitHub
- Follow steps outlined in Common Steps
- In 'master' branch, Edit
bigchaindb/version.py
, increment the minor version to the next planned release, e.g.0.10.0.dev
. This is so people reading the latest docs will know that they're for the latest (master branch) version of BigchainDB Server, not the docs at the time of the most recent release (which are also available). - Go to Docker Hub, sign in, go to Settings - Build Settings, and under the build with Docker Tag Name equal to
latest
, change the Name to the number of the new release, e.g.0.9
Congratulations, you have released BigchainDB!
A patch release is similar to a minor release, but piggybacks on an existing minor release branch:
- Check out the minor release branch, e.g.
0.9
- Apply the changes you want, e.g. using
git cherry-pick
. - Update the
CHANGELOG.md
file - Increment the patch version in
bigchaindb/version.py
, e.g. "0.9.1" - Commit that change, and push the updated branch to GitHub
- Follow steps outlined in Common Steps
- Cherry-pick the
CHANGELOG.md
update commit (made above) to themaster
branch
These steps are common between minor and patch releases:
- Go to the bigchaindb/bigchaindb Releases page on GitHub and click the "Draft a new release" button
- Fill in the details:
- Tag version: version number preceeded by 'v', e.g. "v0.9.1"
- Target: the release branch that was just pushed
- Title: Same as tag name above, e.g "v0.9.1"
- Description: The body of the changelog entry (Added, Changed, etc.)
- Click "Publish release" to publish the release on GitHub
- Make sure your local Git is in the same state as the release: e.g.
git fetch <remote-name>
andgit checkout v0.9.1
- Make sure you have a
~/.pypirc
file containing credentials for PyPI - Do a
make release
to build and publish the newbigchaindb
package on PyPI - Login to readthedocs.org
as a maintainer of the BigchainDB Server docs, and:
- Go to Admin --> Advanced Settings
and make sure that "Default branch:" (i.e. what "latest" points to)
is set to the new release's tag, e.g.
v0.9.1
. (Don't miss the 'v' in front.) - Go to Admin --> Versions
and under Choose Active Versions, do these things:
- Make sure that the new version's tag is "Active" and "Public"
- Make sure the new version's branch (without the 'v' in front) is not active.
- Make sure the stable branch is not active.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Submit button.
- Go to Admin --> Advanced Settings
and make sure that "Default branch:" (i.e. what "latest" points to)
is set to the new release's tag, e.g.