Create release pull request with release notes and updated versions.

1. Compile release notes detailing features added since the last release and add release template file to releases/ directory. The template is defined by containerd's release tool but refer to previous release files for style and format help. Name the file using the version, for rc add an -rc suffix. When moving from rc to final, the rc file may just be renamed and updated. See release-tool

2. Update the version file at https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/version/version.go

3. Update RELEASES.md to refer to the new release and dates.

4. Update the .mailmap files for commit authors which have multiple email addresses in the commit log. If it is not clear which email or name the contributor might want used in the release notes, reach out to the contributor for feedback. NOTE: real names should be used whenever possible. The file is maintained by manually adding entries to the file.

   • e.g. Real Name <[email protected]> Other Name <[email protected]>

5. Before opening the pull request, run the release tool using the new release notes. Ensure the output matches what is expected, including contributors, change log, dependencies, and visual elements such as spacing. If a contributor is duplicated, use the emails outputted by the release tool to update the mailmap then re-run. The goal of the release tool is that is generates release notes that need no alterations after it is generated.

Create tag

1. Choose tag for the next release, containerd uses semantic versioning and expects tags to be formatted as vx.y.z[-rc.n].

2. Generate release notes (using a temp file may be helpful).

   • e.g. release-tool -l -d -n -t v1.0.0 ./releases/v1.0.0.toml > /tmp/v1.0.0-notes

3. Create tag using the generated release notes.

   • e.g. git tag --cleanup=whitespace -s v1.0.0 -F /tmp/v1.0.0-notes

4. Verify tag (e.g. git show v1.0.0), it may help to compare the new tag against previous.

Push tag and Github release

1. Push the tag to [email protected]:containerd/containerd.git. NOTE: this will kick off CI building of the release binaries.

2. Create the Github release using the Tag version which was just pushed. Use the first line outputted from the release tool as the Release title and the remainder of the output for the description. No alteration of the release output should be needed. Ensure pre-release is checked if an -rc. NOTE: This should be done immediately after pushing the tag, otherwise CI may create the release when the binaries are pushed.

3. Check CI has completed and uploaded the binaries. Remove any binaries which get uploaded but are not intended as part of the release (e.g. Darwin binaries).

Update config.toml with latest release in the containerd/containerd.io project; open PR to force website downloads update.

Promote on Slack, Twitter, mailing lists, etc