Simplified Release Process Proposal

The following is just a preliminary proposal to simplify the Release Process. The aim is to keep it as simple as possible because there has been a lot of difficulty following the more sophisticated Release Process currently in place.

[Feature PRs] [Bugfix PRs]          [ Emergency bug/regression fix PR]
     `    `     `      `                         `
      `    `     `      `                         `
====*==*====*=====*======*=========*====master=====*===============*============>
     \             .      .       /                 .             /
      \             .      .     /                   .           /
       *--release----*------*---* [tag v2.xxx]        .         /
                                        \              .       /
                                         \              .     /
                                          *--hotfix------*---* [tag v2.xxx.x]

` = pull request
\ = fork
/ = merge then delete branch
. = cherry-pick

Contributors

Just make pull requests to master.

Release Manager

Releases

Only the Release Manager needs to do this and they only need to do this during a scheduled feature freeze for an upcoming release. The feature freeze window should be kept short to minimize the work involved.

It's assumed they have a github.com/D-Programming-Language remote setup called "upstream" and master is up-to-date with it.

When a scheduled feature freeze for an upcoming release is to happen just create the "release" branch:

git checkout -b release master
git push upstream release

As bugfixes come in cherry-pick them from master:

# while "release" is checked out
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>
git push upstream release

When a beta is made:

git tag v2.xxx-betax release
git push upstream v2.xxx-betax

When the final release has been built and is out the door:

git tag v2.xxx release
git push upstream v2.xxx
git checkout master
git merge release
git push upstream master
git branch -d release      # delete branch
git push upstream :release # delete upstream branch

Hotfixes

Hotfixes are emergency releases made because of some very serious bug or regression that cannot wait until the next release is made. They work nearly identically to the above instructions for a release but they are forked from the tag of the most recently released version. The branches for them are extremely short lived because they address only one (maybe two) specific issues that have come up.

When it's decided a hotfix is necessary:

git checkout -b hotfix v2.xxx
git push upstream hotfix

After the regression/bug fix comes in cherry-pick it from master:

# while "hotfix" is checked out
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>
git push upstream hotfix

When the final hotfix release has been built and is out the door:

git tag v2.xxx.x hotfix
git push upstream v2.xxx.x
git checkout master
git merge hotfix
git push upstream master
git branch -d hotfix      # delete branch
git push upstream :hotfix # delete upstream branch