home-information/docs/dev/workflow/release-process.md

Release Process

Release Overview

Releases follow structured branch workflow:

• Development work in feature branches
• Feature branches merged to staging via PRs
• master branch serves as release branch
• Releases merge accumulated changes from staging to master

Prerequisites

• Direct repository access (core maintainers only)
• Local development environment configured
• All target changes merged into staging branch

Pre-Release Verification

1. Confirm CI Status: Ensure GitHub Actions pass on staging
2. Run Local Validation: make check
3. Review Recent Changes: Check commits and merged PRs

Release Steps

1. Prepare Staging Branch

git checkout staging
git pull github staging

2. Update Version Number

# Edit HI_VERSION file with new version
git add HI_VERSION
git commit -m "Bump version number to vX.X.X"
git push github staging

3. Merge to Master

git checkout master
git pull github master
git merge staging
git push github master

4. Create GitHub Release

Using GitHub CLI (preferred for automation):

gh release create vX.X.X --title "vX.X.X" --generate-notes --latest

Or via GitHub web interface:

1. Navigate to repository releases page
2. Click "Create a new release"
3. Tag: vX.X.X (create new)
4. Target: master branch
5. Title: Use tag name
6. Description: Use "Generate release notes"
7. Settings: Check "Set as latest release"
8. Click "Publish Release"

Version Bumping Criteria

TBD - Establish guidelines for:

• Major version: Breaking changes
• Minor version: New features (backward compatible)
• Patch version: Bug fixes (backward compatible)

Rollback Procedures

TBD - Document rollback procedures:

• Revert problematic releases
• Communication protocols
• Post-rollback testing

Notes

• Changelog Management: Generated from GitHub's automatic changelog
• Deployment: Releases distributed as downloadable packages
• Quality Assurance: Branch protection enforces tests and code quality

Related Documentation

• Workflow guidelines: Workflow Guidelines