Merge pull request #37 from smartcontractkit/feat/release-md

feat: add RELEASE.md and improve CONTRIBUTING.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,56 +1,35 @@
-# Contributing to Chainlink Protos
+# Contributing
 
 <!-- TOC -->
 
-- [Team Overview](#team-overview)
-- [How to Contribute](#how-to-contribute)
-  - [Filing a PR on smartcontractkit/spec-generator](#filing-a-pr-on-smartcontractkitspec-generator)
-  - [Preparing a release](#preparing-a-release)
-  - [Merging Version Packages PR](#merging-version-packages-pr)
+- [Contributing](#contributing)
+  - [Team Overview](#team-overview)
+  - [How to Contribute](#how-to-contribute)
+  - [Changesets](#changesets)
 
 <!-- TOC -->
 
 ## Team Overview
 
-The Deployment Automation team is responsible for the development and maintenance of this repo. The GitHub
-team [@smartcontractkit/deployment-automation](https://github.com/orgs/smartcontractkit/teams/deployment-automation)
-are the primary code owners and reviewers for this repo.
+The Deployment Automation ([@smartcontractkit/deployment-automation](https://github.com/orgs/smartcontractkit/teams/deployment-automation)) team is responsible for the development and maintenance of this repo, and are the primary code owners and reviewers.
 
 ## How to Contribute
 
-To contribute, you must:
+1. Open a branch from `main` and give it a descriptive name.
+2. Make changes on your branch.
+3. When you are ready to submit your changes, [create a changeset](#changesets) with `pnpm changeset` and commit the changeset file.
+4. Push your branch and open a PR against `main`.
+5. Ensure your PR passes all CI checks.
+6. Request a review from the Deployment Automation team ([@smartcontractkit/deployment-automation](https://github.com/orgs/smartcontractkit/teams/deployment-automation)).
 
-- Open a pull request (PR) with your changes.
-- Request a review from the Deployment Automation
-  team ([@smartcontractkit/deployment-automation](https://github.com/orgs/smartcontractkit/teams/deployment-automation))
-  to
-  ensure adherence to code and design standards.
-- Ensure your PR passes all continuous integration checks and adheres to the contribution guidelines specific to each
-  repository.
+## Changesets
 
-### Filing a PR on smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos
+Changesets are a way to manage changes to the codebase that are not yet released. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you create a changeset:
 
-Before creating a PR with your change, you should generate a "changeset" file.
-
-Let's assume that you've made some local changes.
-Before filing a PR you need to generate a "changeset" description required for
-the automated release process. Follow the steps below:
-
-- Run `pnpm changeset` in the git top level directory.
-- Answer remaining questions. At the end, you will have a new
-  `.changeset/<random-name>.md` file generated.
-- Now you need to commit and push your changes
-- Create a Pull request which includes your code change and generated
-  "changeset" file.
-
-### Preparing a release
-
-After merging your PR, a changesets CI job will create or update a "Version Packages" PR
-like [this one](https://github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos/pull/31) which contains a release bump.
-
-### Merging Version Packages PR
-
-Now you can Approve/Request approval and Merge the PR from the previous step. After merging, it will kick off the
-release workflow and that will release a new version and push tags automatically. You can navigate to
-the [tag view](https://github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos/tags), to check if the latest release is
-available.
+- Following semantic versioning, select between: major, minor and patch
+  - **MAJOR** version when you make incompatible API changes
+  - **MINOR** version when you add functionality in a backwards compatible manner
+  - **PATCH** version when you make backwards compatible bug fixes.
+- When describing the change, try to answer the following:
+  - **WHAT** the change is
+  - **WHY** the change was made

README.md

@@ -91,3 +91,8 @@ $ task proto:gen:orchestrator: # only run for orchestrator
 
 For instructions on how to contribute to `chainlink-protos` and the release process,
 see [CONTRIBUTING.md](https://github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)
+
+## Releasing
+
+For instructions on how to release `chainlink-protos`,
+see [RELEASE.md](https://github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos/blob/main/RELEASE.md)

RELEASE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# Release Process
+
+<!-- TOC -->
+
+- [Release Process](#release-process)
+  - [Preparing a Release](#preparing-a-release)
+  - [How to Release](#how-to-release)
+
+<!-- TOC -->
+
+### Preparing a Release
+
+After every PR with a changeset is merged, a changesets CI job will create or update a "Version Packages" PR, which contains the release version and information about the changes.
+
+### How to Release
+
+1. Approve or request approval to merge the "Version Packages" PR.
+2. Merge the "Version Packages" PR.
+3. This will trigger the release workflow, automatically releasing a new version and pushing a tag for the version. Check the [tag view](https://github.com/smartcontractkit/chainlink-protos/tags) to confirm the latest release.