Manta 3.1.4 Release checklist

[ghzlatarev]

Release Checklist

Most of the following checks should be completed before officially publishing the new release
of the Calamari/Manta runtime or client. Some need to be completed after the new code is deployed.

Runtime Releases

These checks should be performed on the codebase prior to forking to a release-
candidate branch.

• Verify spec_version has been incremented since the
  last release for any native runtimes from any existing use on public
  (non-private/test) networks. If the runtime was published (release or pre-release), either
  the spec_version or impl must be bumped.
• Verify pallet and extrinsic ordering has stayed
  the same. Bump transaction_version if not.
• Verify new extrinsics have been correctly whitelisted/blacklisted
• Verify benchmarks have been updated for any modified
  runtime logic.

The following checks can be performed after we have forked off to the release branch.

• Complete the following manual QA workflow.
• Verify Polkadot JS API are up to date with the latest
  runtime changes.
• Execute runtime upgrade to Como and verify network stability.
• Execute runtime upgrade to Baikal and verify network stability.
• Prepare a governance post and submit to our forum with description and motivation for changes.

All Releases

• Check that the new client versions have run on the network
  without issue for 12 hours.
• Check that a draft release has been created at
  https://github.com/Manta-Network/Manta/releases with relevant release
  notes
• Check that build artifacts have been added to the
  draft-release
• Coordinate with marketing team for documenation updates and other relevant tasks.
• Update changelog.

After Runtime Upgrade

• Notify subscan team. Ensure subscan service can continue to scan calamari blocks.
• Sidecar update

Notes

Burn In

Ensure that Manta DevOps has run the new release on Como and Baikal nodes
for at least 12 hours prior to publishing the release.

Release notes

The release notes should list:

• The priority of the release (i.e., how quickly users should upgrade) - this is
  based on the max priority of any client changes.
• Which native runtimes and their versions are included
• The proposal hashes of the runtimes as built with
  srtool
• Any changes in this release that are still awaiting audit

The release notes may also list:

• Free text at the beginning of the notes mentioning anything important
  regarding this release
• Notable changes (those labelled with B[1-9]-* labels) separated into sections

Spec Version

A runtime upgrade must bump the spec number. This may follow a pattern with the
client release

Extrinsic Ordering

Offline signing libraries depend on a consistent ordering of call indices and
functions. Compare the metadata of the current and new runtimes and ensure that
the module index, call index tuples map to the same set of functions. In case
of a breaking change, increase transaction_version.

The things to look for in the output are lines like:

• [Identity] idx 28 -> 25 (calls 15) - indicates the index for Identity has changed
• [+] Society, Recovery - indicates the new version includes 2 additional modules/pallets.
• If no indices have changed, every modules line should look something like [Identity] idx 25 (calls 15)

Note: Adding new functions to the runtime does not constitute a breaking change
as long as the indexes did not change.

Benchmarks

There are three benchmarking machines reserved for updating the weights at
release-time. To initialise a benchmark run for each production runtime
(calamari, manta):

• Go to Calamari Benchmarking Github Action
  and Manta Benchmarking Github Action
• Open "Run workflow" drop-down menu.
• Choose your branch and run the workflow.
• When these jobs have completed (it takes a few hours), custom weights files will
  be available to download as artifacts.
• Commit the changes to your branch and push to the remote branch for review.
• The weights should be (Currently manually) checked to make sure there are no
  big outliers (i.e., twice or half the weight).