node/doc/releases.md

Node.js Release Process

This document describes the technical aspects of the Node.js release process. The intended audience is those who have been authorized by the Node.js Foundation Technical Steering Committee (TSC) to create, promote, and sign official release builds for Node.js, hosted on https://nodejs.org/.

Who can make a release?

Release authorization is given by the Node.js TSC. Once authorized, an individual must be have the following:

1. Jenkins Release Access

There are three relevant Jenkins jobs that should be used for a release flow:

a. Test runs: node-test-pull-request is used for a final full-test run to ensure that the current HEAD is stable.

b. Nightly builds: (optional) iojs+release can be used to create a nightly release for the current HEAD if public test releases are required. Builds triggered with this job are published straight to https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/ and are available for public download.

c. Release builds: iojs+release does all of the work to build all required release assets. Promotion of the release files is a manual step once they are ready (see below).

The Node.js build team is able to provide this access to individuals authorized by the TSC.

2. <nodejs.org> Access

The dist user on nodejs.org controls the assets available in https://nodejs.org/download/. https://nodejs.org/dist/ is an alias for https://nodejs.org/download/release/.

The Jenkins release build slaves upload their artifacts to the web server as the staging user. The dist user has access to move these assets to public access while, for security, the staging user does not.

Nightly builds are promoted automatically on the server by a cron task for the dist user.

Release builds require manual promotion by an individual with SSH access to the server as the dist user. The Node.js build team is able to provide this access to individuals authorized by the TSC.

3. A Publicly Listed GPG Key

A SHASUMS256.txt file is produced for every promoted build, nightly, and releases. Additionally for releases, this file is signed by the individual responsible for that release. In order to be able to verify downloaded binaries, the public should be able to check that the SHASUMS256.txt file has been signed by someone who has been authorized to create a release.

The GPG keys should be fetchable from a known third-party keyserver. The SKS Keyservers at https://sks-keyservers.net are recommended. Use the submission form to submit a new GPG key. Keys should be fetchable via:

gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys <FINGERPRINT>

The key you use may be a child/subkey of an existing key.

Additionally, full GPG key fingerprints for individuals authorized to release should be listed in the Node.js GitHub README.md file.

How to create a release

Notes:

• Dates listed below as "YYYY-MM-DD" should be the date of the release as UTC. Use date -u +'%Y-%m-%d' to find out what this is.
• Version strings are listed below as "vx.y.z". Substitute for the release version.

1. Ensure that HEAD Is Stable

Run a node-test-pull-request test run to ensure that the build is stable and the HEAD commit is ready for release.

2. Produce a Nightly Build (optional)

If there is a reason to produce a test release for the purpose of having others try out installers or specifics of builds, produce a nightly build using iojs+release and wait for it to drop in https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/. Follow the directions and enter a proper length commit SHA, enter a date string, and select "nightly" for "disttype".

This is particularly recommended if there has been recent work relating to the OS X or Windows installers as they are not tested in any way by CI.

3. Update the CHANGELOG.md

Collect a formatted list of commits since the last release. Use changelog-maker (available from npm: npm install changelog-maker -g) to do this.

$ changelog-maker --group

Note that changelog-maker counts commits since the last tag and if the last tag in the repository was not on the current branch you may have to supply a --start-ref argument:

$ changelog-maker --group --start-ref v2.3.1

The CHANGELOG.md entry should take the following form:

## YYYY-MM-DD, Version x.y.z, @releaser

### Notable changes

* List interesting changes here
* Particularly changes that are responsible for minor or major version bumps
* Also be sure to look at any changes introduced by dependencies such as npm
* ... and include any notable items from there

### Known issues

See https://github.com/nodejs/node/labels/confirmed-bug for complete and current list of known issues.

* Include this section if there are any known problems with this release
* Scan GitHub for unresolved problems that users may need to be aware of

### Commits

* Include the full list of commits since the last release here

4. Update src/node_version.h

The following macros should already be set for the release since they will have been updated directly following the last release. They shouldn't require changing:

#define NODE_MAJOR_VERSION x
#define NODE_MINOR_VERSION y
#define NODE_PATCH_VERSION z

However, the NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE macro needs to be set to 1 for the build to be produced with a version string that does not have a trailing pre-release tag:

#define NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE 1

Also consider whether to bump NODE_MODULE_VERSION:

This macro is used to signal an ABI version for native addons. It currently has two common uses in the community:

• Determining what API to work against for compiling native addons, e.g. NAN uses it to form a compatibility-layer for much of what it wraps.
• Determining the ABI for downloading pre-built binaries of native addons, e.g. node-pre-gyp uses this value as exposed via process.versions.modules to help determine the appropriate binary to download at install-time.

The general rule is to bump this version when there are breaking ABI changes and also if there are non-trivial API changes. The rules are not yet strictly defined, so if in doubt, please confer with someone that will have a more informed perspective, such as a member of the NAN team.

Note that it is current TSC policy to bump major version when ABI changes. If you see a need to bump NODE_MODULE_VERSION then you should consult the TSC. Commits may need to be reverted or a major version bump may need to happen.

5. Create Release Commit

The CHANGELOG.md and src/node_version.h changes should be the final commit that will be tagged for the release.

When committing these to git, use the following message format:

YYYY-MM-DD node.js vx.y.z Release

Notable changes:

* Copy the notable changes list here, reformatted for plain-text

6. Push to GitHub

Note that it is not essential that the release builds be created from the Node.js repository. They may be created from your own fork if you desire. It is preferable, but not essential, that the commits remain the same between that used to build and the tagged commit in the Node.js repository.

7. Produce Release Builds

Use iojs+release to produce release artifacts. Enter the commit that you want to build from and select "release" for "disttype".

Artifacts from each slave are uploaded to Jenkins and are available if further testing is required. Use this opportunity particularly to test OS X and Windows installers if there are any concerns. Click through to the individual slaves for a run to find the artifacts.

All release slaves should achieve "SUCCESS" (and be green, not red). A release with failures should not be promoted as there are likely problems to be investigated.

You can rebuild the release as many times as you need prior to promoting them if you encounter problems.

Note that you do not have to wait for the ARM builds if they take longer than the others. It is only necessary to have the main Linux (x64 and x86), OS X .pkg and .tar.gz, Windows (x64 and x86) .msi and .exe, source, headers and docs (both produced currently by an OS X slave). That is, the slaves with "arm" in their name don't need to have finished to progress to the next step. However, if you promote builds before ARM builds have finished, you must repeat the promotion step for the ARM builds when they are ready.

8. Tag and Sign the Release Commit

Tag the release as vx.y.z and sign using the same GPG key that will be used to sign SHASUMS256.txt.

$ git tag <vx.y.z> <commit-sha> -sm 'YYYY-MM-DD node.js vz.y.x Release'

Push the tag to GitHub.

$ git push origin <vx.y.z>

9. Set Up For the Next Release

Edit src/node_version.h again and:

• Increment NODE_PATCH_VERSION by one
• Change NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE back to 0

Commit this change with:

$ git commit -am 'Working on vx.y.z' # where 'z' is the incremented patch number

This sets up the branch so that nightly builds are produced with the next version number and a pre-release tag.

10. Promote and Sign the Release Builds

It is important that the same individual who signed the release tag be the one to promote the builds as the SHASUMS256.txt file needs to be signed with the same GPG key!

When you are confident that the build slaves have properly produced usable artifacts and uploaded them to the web server, you can promote them to release status. This is done by interacting with the web server via the dist user.

The tools/release.sh script should be used to promote and sign the build. When run, it will perform the following actions:

a. Select a GPG key from your private keys. It will use a command similar to: gpg --list-secret-keys to list your keys. If you don't have any keys, it will bail. (Why are you releasing? Your tag should be signed!) If you have only one key, it will use that. If you have more than one key it will ask you to select one from the list. Be sure to use the same key that you signed your git tag with.

b. Log in to the server via SSH and check for releases that can be promoted, along with the list of artifacts. It will use the dist-promotable command on the server to find these. You will be asked, for each promotable release, whether you want to proceed. If there is more than one release to promote (there shouldn't be), be sure to only promote the release you are responsible for.

c. Log in to the server via SSH and run the promote script for the given release. The command on the server will be similar to: dist-promote vx.y.z. After this step, the release artifacts will be available for download and a SHASUMS256.txt file will be present. The release will still be unsigned, however.

d. Use scp to download SHASUMS256.txt to a temporary directory on your computer.

e. Sign the SHASUMS256.txt file using a command similar to: gpg --default-key YOURKEY --clearsign /path/to/SHASUMS256.txt. You will be prompted by GPG for your password. The signed file will be named SHASUMS256.txt.asc.

f. Output an ASCII armored version of your public GPG key using a command similar to: gpg --default-key YOURKEY --armor --export --output /path/to/SHASUMS256.txt.gpg. This does not require your password and is mainly a convenience for users, although not the recommended way to get a copy of your key.

g. Upload the SHASUMS256.txt* files back to the server into the release directory.

If you didn't wait for ARM builds in the previous step before promoting the release, you should re-run tools/release.sh after the ARM builds have finished. That will move the ARM artifacts into the correct location. You will be prompted to re-sign SHASUMS256.txt.

11. Check the Release

Your release should be available at https://nodejs.org/dist/vx.y.z/ and https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/. Check that the appropriate files are in place. You may want to check that the binaries are working as appropriate and have the right internal version strings. Check that the API docs are available at https://nodejs.org/api/. Check that the release catalog files are correct at https://nodejs.org/dist/index.tab and https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json.

12. Announce

The nodejs.org website will automatically rebuild and include the new version. You simply need to announce the build, preferably via twitter with a message such as:

v2.3.2 of @official_iojs is out @ https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/ changelog @ https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#2015-07-01-version-232-rvagg … something here about notable changes

13. Celebrate

In whatever form you do this...