Merge pull request #844 from chainguard-dev/imjasonh-patch-1

Update release.md

release.md

@@ -1,94 +1,39 @@
 # Melange Release Process
 
-## Prerequisites
-
-Set up the repos correctly, and make sure you have right access to the repo to
-perform tag pushes. It can be helpful to create a distrinct repo just for the
-tags push so that you don't accidentally push by accident. For example, my repos
-look like this:
-
-```shell
-git remote -v
-```
-
-And output:
-```
-origin	[email protected]:vaikas/melange.git (fetch)
-origin	[email protected]:vaikas/melange.git (push)
-upstream	[email protected]:chainguard-dev/melange (fetch)
-upstream	no_push (push)
-upstream-tag	[email protected]:chainguard-dev/melange (fetch)
-upstream-tag	[email protected]:chainguard-dev/melange (push)
-```
-
-Note that my regular `upstream` is configured with `no_push` to make sure I
-don't accidentally try to push anything there.
-
-## Steps
-
-### Sync tags
-
-Ensure that your local branch is up-to-date from the upstream:
-
-```shell
-git pull upstream main --tags
-```
-
-### Pick a new version number
-
-The Melange repo uses [semver](https://semver.org/). Your first step is to
-determine the latest tag used.
-
-List the latest tags in date order:
-
-```shell
-git tag | tail
-```
-
-Example output:
-
-```
-v0.1.0
-v0.2.0
-v0.3.0
-v0.3.1
-v0.3.2
-v0.4.0
-v0.5.0
-```
-
-Show a list of changes since the latest version (v0.5.0):
-
-```shell
-git log v0.5.0..
-```
-
-If the commits include a new feature or breaking change, bump the minor version.
-If it only includes bug fixes, bump the patch version.
-
-### Tagging
-
-Once you have a version number in mind (for our example v0.5.1), tag it locally:
-
-```shell
-git tag -a v0.5.1 -m v0.5.1
-```
-
-Then push the tag upstream:
-
-```shell
-git push upstream-tag v0.5.1
-```
+## Patch releases
+
+The most common type of release of Melange is a patch release. Generally we should aim to do these as often as necessary to release _backward compatible_ changes, especially to release updated dependencies to fix vulnerabilities.
+
+To cut a release:
+- go to https://github.com/chainguard-dev/melange/releases/new
+- click "Choose a tag" then "Find or create a new tag"
+- type a new patch version tag for the latest minor version
+  - for example, if the latest version is `v0.5.5`, create a patch release `v0.5.6`
+- click "Create new tag: v0.X.Y on publish"
+  - you can leave the release title empty
+- click "Generate release notes"
+  - make any editorial changes to the release notes you think are relevant
+- make sure "Set as the latest release" is checked
+- click **"Publish release"**
 
 ### Monitor the release automation
 
 Once the tag is pushed, the [`Create Release` action](https://github.com/chainguard-dev/melange/actions/workflows/release.yaml)
-will generate the appropriate release artifacts and create a draft release.
+will attach the appropriate release artifacts and update release notes.
 
 At the time of this writing, the release job takes 20 to 30 minutes to execute.
 
-### Publish
+Make any editorial changes to the release notes you think are necessary.
+You may want to highlight certain changes or remove items that aren't interesting.
 
 Once the `Release` action has been completed successfully, find your release on
 the [releases page](https://github.com/chainguard-dev/melange/releases)
 
+## Minor releases
+
+Occasionally there are large or breaking changes to Melange that we want to highlight with a new minor release.
+A minor release should be cut shortly after a breaking change is made, so that regular patch releases don't release breaking changes.
+
+The process for cutting a release is exactly the same as above, except that you should pick a new minor version.
+
+For example, if the latest version is `v0.5.5`, create a minor release `v0.6.0`.