This document describes the requirements and the process of creating releases of aepp-sdk to npmjs.com.
A user wanting to release a new version needs to be a member of the @aeternity
organization on npmjs.com. An existing member with write access needs to invite
them in order to achieve this. In addition, the user needs to activate any means
of 2-factor authentication because the aepp-sdk
package is set up to only
accept new versions if a second factor for authentication is in use.
This is in light of the latest
eslint-scope
hack.
As new releases should only happen from release branch merges to the master
branch of the repository on GitHub followed by a signed tag push, the user also
needs direct write access to the repository on GitHub. Normally, this can be
achieved by first adding them to the æternity organization and then to the
sdk team, which gives automatic write access.
As aepp-sdk follows the git-flow strategy for develoment, the release process is modelled after that strategy accordingly, with a few additions.
Branch out from develop
to a dedicated release branch denoting the target
version number, e.g. release/0.20.0-0.1.0
for a hypothetical first release
targeting Node 0.20.0.
If Testnet is not yet targeting the latest Node version, but you're "ready to release", you can do a pre-release for the latest version, tagging the release as @next
on npmjs.
To do this, You can follow the steps listed below, while keeping the next
portion in both CHANGELOG.md
and package.json
files.
On the release branch, remove the next
portion of the version
string in package.json
. Replace the [Unreleased]
header in the
change log file, if you have that, with the new version string.
Next, git diff
the release, branch a release/X.X.X
(where X.X.X
is your latest release) against master
and validate that all changes are covered in the changelog. You can find more instructions on how to maintain a CHANGELOG: here.
Also, make sure to add a new link at the bottom of the file that will provide a diff between the last released version and the to-be released version.
There's a catch: That link won't be able to work until after the release has been made!
Create a pull request against master
and have it peer reviewed thoroughly. As
all changes should've been reviewed before when they were merged to develop
,
emphasize on security-related changes and small changes pushed to develop
separately.
Once the integration build has succesfully completed (with or without additional
fixes), merge (without squash) the branch into master
. This allows master
to be comprised of release commits exclusively, so every commit on master correponds to exactly one released (or at least, tagged) version of aepp-sdk, respectively.
Update the local working copy to a local tracking branch of master
and
update. Optionally, wait for the CI build to finish and execute a last
npm run test
locally.
Important: Because npm publish
will use the local files on disk for
releasing, perform a full clean and build in order to release to npmjs.com!
- Cleanup - run
git clean -ffdx
to completely wipe out your workspace of files not in the repository. This might wipe out files you still need, so consider a seperate clone of the project! - Execute
npm run prepublishOnly
to generate Documentation for the API and the SDK codebase, optionally followed bynpm pack
and investigate the resulting tarball's contents. This tarball resembles what users will actual download from npmjs.com once the release is completed! - Execute
npm publish
and follow the on-screen instructions
Important: If you are releasing a Pre-Release (AKA next
), make sure to tag the release as next
using the command npm publish --tag next
.
At this point, the release should already be in npmjs.com. The final step is to also tag the release on GitHub and push the tag, which requires direct write access.
git tag $VERSION
git push tag $VERSION
Recommendation: Use signed tags using the -s option to increase community's trust in the project!
At this point, it is important to synchronize develop
with any changes that
have happened after branching out to the release branch. Create a new branch called realign/X.X.X
from master
(where X.X.X
is your latest release) and open a Pull Request towards develop
and resolve conflicts, if needed.
This concludes the release process and the development cycle.