Add release process documentation

docs/release_process.md

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# Release Process
+
+## Overview
+
+This document serves as a guide for developers to follow when creating new CDash
+releases. It is critical for developers to follow this checklist exactly and
+keep it up-to-date to ensure a consistent release process each time.
+
+## Release Checklist
+
+### Pre-release
+
+- Verify that the latest CI pipeline passed.
+- Verify that the version listed in `config/cdash.php`, `package.json`,
+ and `package-lock.json` is the next version to be released.
+- Check the [milestone](https://github.com/Kitware/CDash/milestones) for the
+ release to ensure everything has either been completed or deferred to future
+ milestones.
+
+### Making a release
+
+- Create a new release branch (if this is the initial release candidate for a 
+ given branch)
+ - Note: Set configs to match [existing branches](https://github.com/Kitware/CDash/settings/branches).
+- Create an annotated tag and push it to GitHub
+ - Note: Simply creating a release in GitHub is not sufficient since it
+ only creates a lightweight tag.
+- Verify that the new tag for the `cdash` Docker image was successfully
+ pushed to [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/kitware/cdash/tags).
+- Pull the new image locally and verify that the correct version is reported at
+ the bottom of the page.
+ - Note: The wrong version could be reported if a lightweight tag was created
+ instead of an annotated tag.
+- Use GitHub to draft a [new release](https://github.com/Kitware/CDash/releases/new)
+ - Select the appropriate tags and click "Generate release notes" to automatically
+ generate release notes.
+ - Verify that all PRs have appropriate release notes labels and none show up
+ in the "Other Changes" section.
+ - Select the pre-release checkbox if this is a release candidate.
+ - Select the "set as latest" checkbox if this is not a release candidate.
+- Publish the new release.
+
+### Post-release
+
+- Create a release announcement on the [Kitware blog](https://www.kitware.com/tag/cdash/).
+- Update [cdash.org](https://www.cdash.org) to advertise the new version.
+- Bump the version listed in `config/cdash.php`, `package.json`, and
+ `package-lock.json` on master to the next expected version.
+ - Note: Doing this helps differentiate between a released version and the
+ version on master when handling bug reports.
+- Lock the oldest release branch to prevent inadvertent changes.
+- Close the oldest [milestone](https://github.com/Kitware/CDash/milestones).
+- (Optional) Triage issues to determine whether any should be added to new
+ milestones or closed.