Merge pull request #7660 from electron/document-release-process

Document release process

docs/development/releasing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+# Releasing
+
+This document describes the process for releasing a new version of Electron.
+
+## Compile release notes
+
+The current process is to maintain a local file, keeping track of notable changes as pull requests are merged. For examples of how to format the notes, see previous releases on [the releases page].
+
+## Create a temporary branch
+
+Create a new branch from `master` named `release`.
+
+```sh
+git checkout master
+git pull
+git checkout -b release
+```
+
+This branch is created as a precaution to prevent any merged PRs from sneaking into a release between the time the temporary release branch is created and the CI builds are complete.
+
+## Bump the version
+
+Run the `bump-version` script, passing `major`, `minor`, or `patch` as an argument:
+
+```sh
+npm run bump-version -- patch
+```
+
+This will bump the version number in several files. See [this bump commit] for an example.
+
+Most releases will be `patch` level. Upgrades to Chrome or other major changes should use `minor`. For more info, see [electron-versioning].
+
+## Edit the release draft
+
+1. Visit [the releases page] and you'll see a new draft release with placeholder release notes.
+1. Edit the release and add release notes.
+1. Click 'Save draft'. **Do not click 'Publish release'!**
+1. Wait for all the builds to pass. :hourglass_flowing_sand:
+
+## Merge temporary branch
+
+Merge the temporary back into master, without creating a merge commit:
+
+```sh
+git merge release master --no-commit
+git push origin master
+```
+
+If this fails, rebase with master and rebuild:
+
+```sh
+git pull
+git checkout release
+git rebase master
+git push origin HEAD
+```
+
+## Run local debug build
+
+Run local debug build to verify that you are actually building the version you want. Sometimes you thought you were doing a release for a new version, but you're actually not.
+
+```sh
+npm run build
+npm start
+```
+
+Verify the window is displaying the current updated version.
+
+## Set environment variables
+
+You'll need to set the following environment variables to publish a release. Ask another team member for these credentials.
+
+- `ELECTRON_S3_BUCKET`
+- `ELECTRON_S3_ACCESS_KEY`
+- `ELECTRON_S3_SECRET_KEY`
+- `ELECTRON_GITHUB_TOKEN` - A personal access token with "repo" scope.
+
+You will only need to do this once.
+
+## Publish the release
+
+This script will download the binaries and generate the node headers and the .lib linker used on Windows by node-gyp to build native modules.
+
+```sh
+npm run release
+```
+
+Note: Many distributions of Python still ship with old HTTPS certificates. You may see a `InsecureRequestWarning`, but it can be disregarded.
+
+## Delete the temporary branch
+
+```sh
+git checkout master
+git branch -D release # delete local branch
+git push origin :release # delete remote branch
+```
+
+[the releases page]: https://github.com/electron/electron/releases
+[this bump commit]: https://github.com/electron/electron/commit/78ec1b8f89b3886b856377a1756a51617bc33f5a
+[electron-versioning]: /docs/tutorial/electron-versioning.md

package.json

@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
   "scripts": {
     "bootstrap": "python ./script/bootstrap.py",
     "browserify": "browserify",
+    "bump-version": "./script/bump-version.py",
     "build": "python ./script/build.py -c D",
     "clean": "python ./script/clean.py",
     "coverage": "npm run instrument-code-coverage && npm test -- --use-instrumented-asar",
@@ -38,6 +39,7 @@
     "lint-api-docs-js": "standard-markdown docs && standard-markdown docs-translations",
     "lint-api-docs": "electron-docs-linter docs/api --version=$npm_package_version --outfile=out/electron-api.json",
     "preinstall": "node -e 'process.exit(0)'",
+    "release": "./script/upload.py -p",
     "repl": "python ./script/start.py --interactive",
     "start": "python ./script/start.py",
     "test": "python ./script/test.py"