Document the release process (#1528)

* Add release process documentation

---------

Co-authored-by: Patriot99 <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Sewer. <[email protected]>

docs/ReleaseProcess.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# Release Process and Workflow
+
+## Overview
+The Nexus Mods App follows a strict release process which assumes that the
+`main` branch is the development branch and will always be kept in a releasable
+state. This means that any major overhauls of feature development should either
+be done in a single PR or be developed behind an optional setting or feature flag.
+
+At a high level, releases are done by branching from `main`, and then building an app release
+from this branch. A tag is assigned at the moment of the release. Hotfixes to a release
+will only be done for specific issues that cause major regressions, and these hotfixes will
+be applied to the `main` branch and backported into the release branch (or vice versa). Hotfix
+releases are branched from the base release. Once it is determined that no hotfixes
+will be applied to the release branch, the release branch is deleted. Often, this will be done
+sometime after the next release is made.
+
+## Release Schedule
+The Nexus Mods App developer team follows a 3-week iteration cycle, so releases are expected
+to be made at the same interval. Most often, releases will be cut by the team lead, [halgari](https://github.com/halgari),
+who lives in the MST timezone. The cutoff point for a release is sometime in the early morning on Wednesday
+of the release week (MST). Due to the requirement that main kept in an "always releasable" state, 
+the exact time of the creation of the release branch will not be further defined. 
+
+## Hotfix Criteria
+The ultimate goal of the team is to never release a hotfix for a release. However there are times 
+where a regression is discovered at the last moment, or some bug slips in as part of a late PR. These
+situations should be considered the exception not the norm, and common hotfixes should be viewed as 
+a failure of process and addressed accordingly. 
+
+Hotfixes should be restricted to the following criteria:
+
+* Data loss - something in the release will cause the user to lose their data or work in an area of the 
+app that was previously marked as "supported"
+* System instability - something in the app causes crashes in a part of the app outside of the app's influence
+* Inability to upgrade - something in the app causes the app to get into a state where future updates will
+not be installable and the user would be required to wipe their data and start over. 
+
+The common theme for all of these is situations where the user experience is getting worse as time goes on, 
+and waiting till the next release cycle creates an ever compounding problem for users and the dev team. These criteria
+are just guidelines, however, and the app team managers reserve the right to make case-by-case decisions. 
+
+## Hotfix development process
+* Bring up an issue with the dev team
+* If a decision is made that the issue needs to be hotfixed, the github issue will be marked as `needs-backporting`
+* Create a PR against either `main` or the release branch with the fix. 
+* Create a second PR against the other branch with the same fix (feel free to wait until the first PR is merged).
+* Once *both* PRs are merged the initial issue can be closed. 
+
+## Technical Process for a Release
+
+1. Make sure the release changelog is committed. Often the changelog includes images that 
+reference a tag or commit, so merge the commit PR first, then continue the process. [erri120](https://github.com/erri120) is
+the current changelog maintainer. 
+2. Create a release branch from main named `release_vX.Y`
+3. Tag the most recent commit of the release branch
+4. Execute the `Release` github action, and be sure to pass in the correct tag and branch names. 
+5. Once the release has started building, it will create a new release entry on GitHub. Edit the release
+and copy in the correct changelog information from `CHANGELOG.md`
+6. Once the release has been built, verify that it has uploaded the artifacts correctly, and set the release as the new
+current version on GitHub
+
+## Technical Process for a hotfix release
+It is exactly the same as the process for a main release, but the base for all branching, builds, and tags
+is the previous most recent release. 

mkdocs.yml

@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ nav:
       - UI Styling Guidelines: development-guidelines/UIStylingGuidelines.md
       - Using Workspaces: development-guidelines/UsingWorkspaces.md
       - Diagnostics: development-guidelines/Diagnostics.md
+      - Release Process: ReleaseProcess.md
 
   - Decisions:
       - Backend: