document the electron release process

docs/development/releasing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# 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 (optional)
+
+If there is any change to the build configuration, use a temporary branch with any name (e.g. `release`). Otherwise you can use `master`.
+
+## Bump the version
+
+Run the `bump-release` script, passing `major`, `minor`, or `patch` as an argument:
+
+```sh
+npm run bump-release -- patch
+```
+
+This will bump the version number in a number of 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
+
+If you created a temporary release branch, merge it back into master, without creating a merge commit:
+
+```sh
+git merge release master --no-commit
+```
+
+## 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.
+
+## 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
+```
+
+[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-release": "./script/bump-release.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"