Releasing a pylint version

So, you want to release the X.Y.Z version of pylint ?

Releasing a major or minor version

Before releasing a major or minor version check if there are any unreleased commits on the maintenance branch. If so, release a last patch release first. See ``Releasing a patch version``.

  • Write the Summary -- Release highlights in doc/whatsnew and upgrade the release date.

  • Install the release dependencies: pip3 install -r requirements_test.txt

  • Bump the version and release by using tbump X.Y.0 --no-push --no-tag. (For example: tbump 2.4.0 --no-push --no-tag)

  • Check the commit created with git show amend the commit if required.

  • Move the main branch up to a dev version with tbump:

tbump X.Y+1.0-dev0 --no-tag --no-push  # You can interrupt after the first step
git commit -am "Upgrade the version to x.y+1.0-dev0 following x.y.0 release"

For example:

tbump 2.5.0-dev0 --no-tag --no-push
git commit -am "Upgrade the version to 2.5.0-dev0 following 2.4.0 release"

  • tbump will have created a new What's new in Pylint X.Y+1 document. Add it to doc/whatsnew/3/index.rst. Take a look at the examples from doc/whatsnew. Commit that with git commit -a --amend.

  • Push to a release branch

  • Open a merge request with the two commits (no one can push directly on main)

  • After the merge, recover the merged commits on main and tag the first one (the version should be X.Y.Z) as vX.Y.Z (For example: v2.4.0)

  • Push the tag.

  • Release the version on GitHub with the same name as the tag and copy and paste the appropriate changelog in the description. This triggers the PyPI release.

  • Create a maintenance/X.Y.x (For example: maintenance/2.4.x from the v2.4.0 tag.)

  • Upgrade the pattern for the protected branches in the settings under Branches / Branch protection rules. (For example: maintenance/2.4* instead of maintenance/2.3*.). There’s a lot of configuration done in these settings, do NOT recreate it from scratch.

  • Delete the maintenance/X.Y-1.x branch. (For example: maintenance/2.3.x)

  • Select all the issues labelled backport maintenance/X.Y-1.x and label them backported, then rename the backport maintenance/X.Y-1.x label to backport maintenance/X.Y.x (for example rename backport maintenance/2.3.x to backport maintenance/2.4.x)

  • Close the current milestone and create the new ones (For example: close 2.4.0, create 2.4.1 and 2.6.0)

  • Hide and deactivate all the patch releases for the previous minor release on readthedocs, except the last one. (For example: hide v2.4.0, v2.4.1, v2.4.2 and keep only v2.4.3)

Back-porting a fix from main to the maintenance branch

Whenever a PR on main should be released in a patch release on the current maintenance branch:

  • Label the PR with backport maintenance/X.Y-1.x. (For example backport maintenance/2.3.x)

  • Squash the PR before merging (alternatively rebase if there’s a single commit)

  • (If the automated cherry-pick has conflicts)

    • Add a Needs backport label and do it manually.

    • You might alternatively also:

      • Cherry-pick the changes that create the conflict if it’s not a new feature before doing the original PR cherry-pick manually.

      • Decide to wait for the next minor to release the PR

      • In any case upgrade the milestones in the original PR and newly cherry-picked PR to match reality.

  • Release a patch version

Releasing a patch version

We release patch versions when a crash or a bug is fixed on the main branch and has been cherry-picked on the maintenance branch.

  • Install the release dependencies: pip3 install -r requirements_test.txt

  • Bump the version and release by using tbump X.Y-1.Z --no-push. (For example: tbump 2.3.5 --no-push)

  • Check the result visually with git show.

  • Open a merge request of release-X.Y-1.Z' in maintenance/X.Y.x (For example: release-2.3.5-branch in maintenance/2.3.x) to run the CI tests for this branch.

  • Create and push the tag.

  • Release the version on GitHub with the same name as the tag and copy and paste the changelog from the ReadtheDoc generated documentation from the pull request pipeline in the description. This triggers the PyPI release.

  • Merge the maintenance/X.Y.x branch on the main branch. The main branch should have the changelog for X.Y-1.Z+1 (For example v2.3.6). This merge is required so pre-commit autoupdate works for pylint.

  • Fix version conflicts properly, or bump the version to X.Y.0-devZ (For example: 2.4.0-dev6) before pushing on the main branch

  • Close the current milestone and create the new one (For example: close 2.3.5, create 2.3.6)

Milestone handling

We move issues that were not done to the next milestone and block releases only if there are any open issues labelled as blocker.