Add release process reference guide

[iameskild]

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[iameskild]

@trallard @pavithraes I moved the release process doc to the community section and updated the Gitflow section to reflect what we discussed during the Nebari sync.

[trallard]

Left several comments here, stuff that I think is missing:

• Neither the checklist nor these docs tell anyone how to create a tag. See https://numpy.org/devdocs/dev/releasing.html#prepare-the-release-commit

From the checklist

- [ ] [Cut PyPI release via GHA release workflow.](https://github.com/nebari-dev/nebari/releases/new)
  - Avoid appending `v` to the tag.
    - Copy release notes from `RELEASE.md`.

• Also, where are the release notes copied to or from?

[pavithraes]

Also, where are the release notes copied to or from?

The actual release notes are recorded at: https://github.com/nebari-dev/nebari/blob/release/2022.11.1/RELEASE.md

We want to copy these to: https://www.nebari.dev/docs/references/RELEASE

I do have a PR open to copy these over automatically on each release: nebari-dev/nebari#1554

[iameskild]

Thanks for the review @trallard! I believe I addressed all of the concerns above.

• Neither the checklist nor these docs tell anyone how to create a tag. See https://numpy.org/devdocs/dev/releasing.html#prepare-the-release-commit

From the checklist

- [ ] [Cut PyPI release via GHA release workflow.](https://github.com/nebari-dev/nebari/releases/new)
  - Avoid appending `v` to the tag.
    - Copy release notes from `RELEASE.md`.

We don't need to manually create any tags as it is handled by GitHub's release process (which is where we link to) :)

[pavithraes]

Thanks for working on this page, Eskild. I think it's looking great!

[iameskild]

@trallard @pavithraes as I have been writing up these docs and trying to think through how (existing and new) contributors will likely work, I'm starting to have some reservations about the Bokeh style gitflow workflow. There are a few places where this gitflow workflow is not entirely intuitive and will likely cause some confusion. A few examples of this include:

• not knowing which branch to branch off
  • users should branch off of the default branch release/YYYY-MM-releaseNumber but this will change every month
• if the feature you're are working on takes more than a month to complete, you'll need to rebase
  • if your target branch gets deleted (once its merged into main), does this also automatically close your PR?
• if for some reason there is no release during a particular month, then all open PRs will need to have their target branch updated

I'm not trying to drag this discussion out but I think it's worth making this process as simple and as intuitive as possible for the sake of all devs (existing and new alike).

[pavithraes]

@iameskild Thank you for raising these great points! I'm on board with your original proposal involving the develop branch. :)

Bokeh's strategy does indeed add a couple of extra hoops for new contributors, and to combat that we've tried to make the process clear in our contributing guide. However, Bokeh also does significantly fewer releases (definitely not one per month!) which makes this much more manageable.

[iameskild]

Hey @pavithraes and @trallard, I have updated these docs based on the discussion we had last week around switching from Bokeh-style gitflow to Gitlab-style gitflow. This is ready for a final review. Once this is merged, I will make the requisite changes to the nebari repo (i.e. set default branch to develop).

[trallard]

There are some comments and changes that need to be addressed before merging this @iameskild

It seems your branch is now out of sync with main - so you will need to bring these in sync and move the release guide to the corresponding maintainer's section.

Edit: it does not seem to be out of sync but the file still needs moving and the sidebar needs update

[trallard]

since I cannot leave comments on files names - this needs to be under docs/community/maintainers

[pavithraes]

Thank you for working on this, @iameskild!

My only major suggestion -- I think we can move this page to the "Community/Maintainers" section, which might be a better fit. :)

The content looks complete though, so I'll approve and you can self-merge after!

[iameskild]

@trallard @pavithraes thanks for the feedback! I think this is finally ready :)

[trallard]

Thanks @iameskild this looks great. Will go ahead and merge.