[Release]: 0.1.19

[donyunardi]

Pre-release

• Make sure that high priority bugs (label "priority" + "bug") have been resolved before going into the release.
• Review old/hanging PRs before going into the release.
• Revisit R-package's lifecycle badges (Optional).
• Release Manager: Discuss package dependencies, create a plan to sequentially close release activities and submit groups of packages for internal validation (Applicable only for regulatory release).
• Check Validation Pipeline dry-run results for the package.
• Make sure all relevant integration tests are green 2-3 days before the release. Look carefully through logs (check for warnings and notes).
• Inform about the soft code freeze, decide what gets merged in before starting release activities.

Release

Prepare the release

• Create a new release candidate branch
  git checkout -b release-candidate-vX.Y.Z
• Update NEWS.md file: make sure it reflects a holistic summary of what has changed in the package, check README.
• Remove the additional fields (Remotes) from the DESCRIPTION file where applicable.
• Make sure that the minimum dependency versions are updated in the DESCRIPTION file for the package.
  • Increase versioned dependency on {package name} to >=X.Y.Z.
• Commit your changes and create the PR on GitHub (add "[skip vbump]" in the PR title). Add all updates, commit, and push changes:

  # Make the necessary modifications to your files
  # Stage the changes
  git add <files your modified>
  # Commit the changes
  git commit -m "[skip vbump] <Your commit message>"
  git push origin release-candidate-vX.Y.Z

Test the release

• Execute the manual tests on Shiny apps that are deployed on various hosting providers (Posit connect and shinyapps.io) - track the results in GitHub issue (Applicable only for frameworks that use Shiny).
• Monitor integration tests, if integration fails, create priority issues on the board.
• Execute UAT tests (Optional).

Validation loop

Note: This section is applicable only for regulatory packages.

• Tag the update(s) as a release candidate vX.Y.Z-rc (e.g. v0.5.3-rc1) on the release candidate branch (release-candidate-vX.Y.Z).

  # Create rc tag for submission for internal validation
  git tag vX.Y.Z-rc<iteration number>
  git push origin vX.Y.Z-rc<iteration number>

• Submit the package for internal validation.
• Address any feedback (internal validation/user testing), retag the package as a release candidate vX.Y.Z-rc(n+1). Repeat the submission for internal validation if necessary.
• Get the package validated.

Tag the release

• If the additional fields were removed, add them back in a separate PR, and then merge the PR back to main (add "[skip vbump]" in the PR title). If nothing was removed just merge the PR you created in the "Prepare the release" section to main. Note the commit hash of the merged commit. Note: additional commits might be added to the main branch by a bot or an automation - we do NOT want to tag this commit.

Make sure of the following before continuing with the release:

• CI checks are passing in GH.
• Shiny apps are deployable and there are no errors/warnings (Applicable only for frameworks that use Shiny).
• Create a git tag with the final version set to vX.Y.Z on the main branch. In order to do this:
  1. Checkout the commit hash.
     git checkout <commit hash>
  2. Tag the hash with the release version (vX.Y.Z).
     git tag vX.Y.Z
  3. Push the tag to make the final release.
     git push origin vX.Y.Z
• Update downstream package dependencies to (>=X.Y.Z) in {package name}.
  Note: Once the release tag is created, the package is automatically published to internal repositories.

Post-release

• Make sure that the package is published to internal repositories (Validated and/or Non-Validated repository).
• Review and update installation instructions for the package if needed.
• Make sure internal documentation/documentation catalogs are up to date.
• Notify the IDR team to start post-release/clean-up activities.
• Announce the release on 24 FEB 2025.

Decision tree

Click here to see the release decision tree.