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Release Checklist

  • Summarize major changes since the previous release.
  • Update CHANGELOG.md with the major change list.
  • Create an annotated tag for the release, with the major change list as the message.
  • Push the release tag, and create a release draft with the major change list.
  • Build packages and add them to the release draft.
  • Create NuGet packages and publish them to powershell-core feed.
  • Publish the release draft.
  • Update documentation and scripts to use the links to new packages.
  • Push a branch named docker to powershell/powershell repository to trigger building docker images.
  • Delete the docker branch once the builds are successful at powershell docker hub.

Preparing

PowerShell releases use Semantic Versioning. Until we hit 6.0, each sprint results in a bump to the build number, so v6.0.0-alpha.7 goes to v6.0.0-alpha.8.

When a particular commit is chosen as a release, we create an annotated tag that names the release, and list the major changes since the previous release. An annotated tag has a message (like a commit), and is not the same as a lightweight tag. Create one with git tag -a v6.0.0-alpha.7. Our convention is to prepend the v to the semantic version. The summary (first line) of the annotated tag message should be the full release title, e.g. 'v6.0.0-alpha.7 release of PowerShell'.

While creating a release, it is advised to make a new branch such that necessary documentation updates and hot fixes can be made, without having to include all changes made to master. This release branch can be reviewed by the normal PR process.

When the annotated tag is finalized, push it with git push --tags. GitHub will see the tag and present it as an option when creating a new release. Start the release, use the annotated tag's summary as the title, and save the release as a draft while you upload the binary packages.

Just as important as creating the release is updating the links on our readme, and the package names in the installation instructions. The AppVeyor build number should also be incremented.

When creating the packages, please ensure that the file path does not contain user names. That is, clone to /PowerShell on Unix, and C:\PowerShell for Windows. The debug symbols include the absolute path to the sources when built, so it should appear /PowerShell/src/powershell/System.Management.Automation, not /home/username/src/PowerShell/....

Building Packages

The build.psm1 module contains a Start-PSPackage function to build packages. It requires that Start-PSBuild -CrossGen -PSModuleRestore has been run.

Linux / macOS

Overview

The Start-PSPackage function delegates to New-UnixPackage. This function will automatically deduce the correct version from the most recent annotated tag (using git describe).

At this time, each package must be made on the corresponding platform. The packages each have the .NET Core runtime-identifier appended to their filename. This is necessary to differentiate the Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 packages, which must be separate due to having different dependencies.

The Start-PSPackage function relies on the Effing Package Management project, which makes building packages for any (non-Windows) platform a breeze. Similarly, the PowerShell man-page is generated from the Markdown-like file assets/powershell.1.ronn using Ronn. The function Start-PSBootstrap -Package will install both these tools.

To modify any property of the packages, edit the New-UnixPackage function. Please also refer to the function for details on the package properties (such as the description, maintainer, vendor, URL, license, category, dependencies, and file layout).

Note that the only configuration on Linux and macOS is Linux, which is release (i.e. not debug) configuration.

Side-By-Side Design

To support side-by-side Unix packages, we use the following design:

We will maintain a powershell package which owns the /usr/bin/powershell symlink, is the latest version, and is upgradeable. This is the only package named powershell and similarly is the only package owning any symlinks, executables, or man-pages named powershell. Until we have a package repository, this package will contain actual PowerShell bits (i.e. it is not a meta-package). These bits are installed to /opt/microsoft/powershell/6.0.0-alpha.8/, where the version will change with each update (and is the pre-release version). On macOS, the prefix is /usr/local, instead of /opt/microsoft because it is derived from BSD.

When we have access to package repositories where dependencies can be properly resolved, this powershell package can become a meta-package which auto-installs the latest package, and so only owns the symlink.

For explicitly versioned packages, say for PowerShell 6.0, we will maintain separate packages named in the form powershell6.0, which owns the binary powershell6.0, the symlink powershell6.0, the man-page powershell6.0, and is installed to /opt/microsoft/powershell/6.0/. Specifically this package owns nothing named powershell, as only the powershell package owns those files. This package is upgradeable, but should only be updated with hot-fixes. This is a necessary consequence of Unix package managers, as files among packages cannot conflict. From a user-experience perspective, if the user requires a specific version of PowerShell, they should not be required to use an absolute path, and instead should be given a binary with the version in the name. This pattern is followed by many other languages (Python being the most obvious example). This same pattern can be followed for versions 6.1, 7.0, etc., and can be used for patch version (e.g. 6.0.1). Use Start-PSPackage -Name powershell6.0 to generate the versioned powershell6.0 package. Without -Name specified, the primary powershell package will instead be created.

macOS Package Creation

On macOS, create a new branch at the release tag. For example:

git checkout -b local-release-branch v6.0.0-alpha.11

Then run the following commands:

Import-Module ./build.psm1
Start-PSBootstrap -Package
Start-PSBuild -Crossgen -PSModuleRestore
Start-PSPackage

Linux Package Creation

To create packages for the supported Linux distros, you can either run Start-PSPackage manually on each of the Linux distros or use Docker Build.

Manual Steps

On a supported Linux distro, Ubuntu 14.04 for instance, create a new branch at the release tag. For example:

git checkout -b local-release-branch v6.0.0-alpha.11

Then run the following commands:

Import-Module ./build.psm1
Start-PSBootstrap -Package
Start-PSBuild -Crossgen -PSModuleRestore
Start-PSPackage

Repeat the steps on other supported Linux distros to generate the corresponding powershell core packages.

Docker Build

  • Install Docker on Linux following docker/README.md. If the Docker container cannot access internet after installation, you may be able to fix it in this way.
  • In bash, run /PowerShell/docker/launch.sh with the release tag. It will start building 3 Docker images in parallel -- CentOS7, Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04. When it's done, the created packages will be copied to "/PowerShell/docker/packages". For example:
cd /PowerShell/docker
BUILDS=nightly BRANCH=v6.0.0-alpha.11 ./launch.sh
  • You can verify each package by starting a container of the corresponding Docker image. The created package is installed on the Docker image as the last step of building it. For example:
docker run -it --rm microsoft/powershell-nightly:ubuntu16.04

Windows

Overview

The Start-PSPackage function delegates to New-MSIPackage which creates a Windows Installer Package of PowerShell. The packages must be published in release mode, so use Start-PSBuild -CrossGen -PSModuleRestore -Configuration Release. It uses the Windows Installer XML Toolset (WiX) to generate a PowerShell_<version>.msi, which installs a self-contained copy of the current version (commit) of PowerShell. It copies the output of the published PowerShell application to a version-specific folder in Program Files, and installs a shortcut in the Start Menu. It can be uninstalled through Programs and Features.

Note that PowerShell is always self-contained, thus using it does not require installing it. The output of Start-PSBuild includes a powershell.exe executable which can simply be launched.

Package Creation

To create release packages, create a new branch at the release tag. For example:

git checkout -b local-release-branch v6.0.0-alpha.11

Windows 10 and Server 2016

Import-Module .\build.psm1
Start-PSBootstrap -Package
Start-PSBuild -Clean -CrossGen -PSModuleRestore -Runtime win10-x64 -Configuration Release
Start-PSPackage -Type msi
Start-PSPackage -Type zip

Windows 8.1 and Server 2012r2

Import-Module .\build.psm1
Start-PSBootstrap -Package
Start-PSBuild -Clean -CrossGen -PSModuleRestore -Runtime win81-x64 -Configuration Release
Start-PSPackage -Type msi -WindowsDownLevel win81-x64
Start-PSPackage -Type zip -WindowsDownLevel win81-x64

NuGet Packages

Create a new branch at the release tag. For example:

git checkout -b local-release-branch v6.0.0-alpha.11

Run Publish-NuGetFeed to generate PowerShell NuGet packages:

Import-Module .\build.psm1
Start-PSBootstrap -Package
Start-PSBuild -Clean -Publish
$VersionSuffix = ((git describe) -split '-')[-1] -replace "\."
Publish-NuGetFeed -VersionSuffix $VersionSuffix

PowerShell NuGet packages and the corresponding symbol packages will be generated at PowerShell/nuget-artifacts by default. Currently the NuGet packages published to powershell-core feed only contain assemblies built for Windows. Maintainers are working on including the assemblies built for non-Windows platforms.