Avalonia/docs/release.md

Release Process

This document describes the process for creating a new Avalonia release

Backports

• Go through PRs with "backport-candidate-*" tags, make sure this list makes sense
• Checkout https://github.com/grokys/avalonia-backport tool from the source code, get github api token
• Checkout stable release branch, like release/11.0
• Run backport cherry-picking process to the stable release branch
• Test if everything builds and tests are passing
• Test nightly builds of Avalonia
• Run labeling process (automatically replace "backport-candidate" with "backported" tags) and generate changelog

Release

• Create a branch named e.g. release/11.0.9 for the specific minor version
• Update the version number in the file SharedVersion.props, e.g. <Version>11.0.9</Version>
• Commit the file.
• Add a tag for this version, e.g. git tag 11.0.9.
• Update the release/latest branch to point to the same commit.
• Push the release branches and the tag.
• Wait for azure pipelines to finish the build. Nightly build with 11.0.9 version should be released soon after.
• Using the nightly build run a due diligence test to make sure you're happy with the package.
• On azure pipelines, on the release for your release branch release/11.0.9 click on the badge for "Nuget Release"
• Click deploy
• Make a release on Github releases
• Press "Auto-generate changelog", so GitHub will append information about new contributors
• Replace changelog with one generated by avalonia-backport tool. Enable discussion for the specific release
• Review the release information and publish.
• Update the dotnet templates, visual studio templates.
• Announce on telegram (RU and EN), twitter, etc