rustnet/RELEASE.md

Release Process

This document is for maintainers releasing new versions of RustNet.

Creating a New Release

1. Prepare the Release

Update version in Cargo.toml, rpm/rustnet.spec, and update CHANGELOG.md with release notes:

# Ensure you're on the main branch with latest changes
git checkout main
git pull origin main

# Update Cargo.toml version (e.g., version = "0.3.0")
# Update rpm/rustnet.spec Version field (e.g., Version: 0.3.0)
# Update CHANGELOG.md with new version section

# Update Cargo.lock and test the build
cargo build --release
cargo test

2. Commit Release Changes

# Stage and commit the version and changelog changes
git add Cargo.toml Cargo.lock CHANGELOG.md rpm/rustnet.spec
git commit -m "Release v0.3.0

- Feature or fix summary here
- Another change here
- And more changes"

3. Create and Push Git Tag

# Create an annotated tag matching the version in Cargo.toml
git tag -a v0.3.0 -m "Release v0.3.0

- Feature or fix summary here
- Another change here
- And more changes"

# Push both the commit and the tag
git push origin main
git push origin v0.3.0

That's it! The GitHub Actions workflow will automatically:

• Build binaries for all platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows - multiple architectures)
• Create installer packages (DEB, RPM, DMG, MSI)
• Extract release notes from CHANGELOG.md
• Create a draft GitHub release with all artifacts attached
• Upload all binaries and installers to the release

4. Finalize the Release

Once the GitHub Actions workflow completes (~15-20 minutes):

1. Go to the GitHub repository releases page
2. Find the draft release for your tag (e.g., v0.3.0)
3. Review the automatically extracted release notes
4. Publish the release (it will be created as a draft)

Automated Release Workflow

The release process is fully automated via .github/workflows/release.yml:

Triggers:

• Pushing a tag matching v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+ (e.g., v0.3.0, v1.2.3)
• Manual workflow dispatch

What it does:

1. Builds cross-platform binaries:

   • Linux: x64, ARM64, ARMv7 (with eBPF support)
   • macOS: Intel (x64) and Apple Silicon (ARM64)
   • Windows: 64-bit and 32-bit

2. Creates installer packages:

   • Linux: DEB packages (amd64, arm64, armhf) and RPM packages (x86_64, aarch64)
   • macOS: DMG installers with app bundles (supports code signing/notarization if secrets configured)
   • Windows: MSI installers (64-bit and 32-bit)

3. Extracts release notes:

   • Automatically parses CHANGELOG.md to extract the version-specific section
   • Falls back to auto-generated notes if no changelog entry is found

4. Creates GitHub release:

   • Creates a draft release with the tag name as title
   • Attaches all binaries and installer packages
   • Uses extracted changelog content as release notes

Release Checklist

Before pushing the tag, ensure:

• Version number updated in Cargo.toml
• Version number updated in rpm/rustnet.spec (line 5: Version: x.y.z)
• Cargo.lock updated (via cargo build)
• CHANGELOG.md updated with release notes in format ## [x.y.z] - YYYY-MM-DD
• All tests pass (cargo test)
• Changes committed to main branch
• Git tag created and pushed

After GitHub Actions completes:

• Verify all platform binaries built successfully
• Verify all installer packages created (DEB, RPM, DMG, MSI)
• Review automatically extracted release notes
• Publish the draft release on GitHub
• Homebrew formula at https://github.com/domcyrus/homebrew-rustnet will get automatically updated (runs hourly via GitHub Actions or can be triggered manually)
• Announce release (if applicable)

Versioning

RustNet follows Semantic Versioning (SemVer):

• MAJOR version for incompatible API changes
• MINOR version for backward-compatible functionality additions
• PATCH version for backward-compatible bug fixes

Examples:

• v0.1.0 → v0.1.1 (bug fixes)
• v0.1.1 → v0.2.0 (new features)
• v0.2.0 → v1.0.0 (major changes, API stability)