Release Management Scripts

This repository contains bash shell scripts that assist in implementing a release management strategy that is based on one release branch per minor version.

In this strategy, the master branch contains the latest & greatest code, and branches are created for each minor version (vx.y) and only patches for that release go into its minor branch.

TL;DR

$ git clone git@github.com:SciSpike/release-mgmt.git /tmp/scispike/release-mgmt  
$ alias release=/tmp/scispike/release-mgmt/release  
$  
$ # For a Node.js project using npm:  
$ release nodejs pre   # release a preview  
$ release nodejs rc    # release a release candidate  
$ release nodejs minor # release a minor version  
$ release nodejs patch # release a patch  
$  
$ # For a Node.js project using npm that also produces a Docker image,  
$ # and you want the package version to be the same as the Docker image's  
$ # version label:  
$ release nodejs+image pre   # release a preview  
$ release nodejs+image rc    # release a release candidate  
$ release nodejs+image minor # release a minor version  
$ release nodejs+image patch # release a patch  
$  
$ # For a Helm chart project:  
$ release chart pre   # release a preview  
$ release chart rc    # release a release candidate  
$ release chart minor # release a minor version  
$ release chart patch # release a patch  
$  
$ # For a generic project that uses a VERSION file:  
$ release version pre   # release a preview  
$ release version rc    # release a release candidate  
$ release version minor # release a minor version  
$ release version patch # release a patch  
$  
$ # For a .NET project in c# that uses a AssemblyInfo.cs file with entries for AssemblyVersion, AssemblyFileVersion and AssemblyInformationalVersion:  
$ release csharp pre   # release a preview  
$ release csharp rc    # release a release candidate  
$ release csharp minor # release a minor version  
$ release csharp patch # release a patch  
$  
$ # To use the Docker image to release a Node.js preview:  
$ docker run \  
    --rm \  
    -it \  
    -e EMAIL=your@email.here \  
    -v ~/.ssh/id_rsa:/root/.ssh/id_rsa \  
    -v ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub:/root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub \  
    -v $PWD:/gitrepo \  
    scispike/release \  
    nodejs pre  

This is a minor-release-per-branch strategy, and all that the scripts do is manipulate versions, create release commits & tags, create release branches, and push so that your CI/CD process can actually perform releases based on branch & tag names.
You can override certain defaults; see the release-xxx scripts for more information, or issue ./release xxx --help to get usage information, where xxx is nodejs, image, version, or chart.

We currently support release management for

• Helm charts (release-chart)
• Docker images using Dockerfile's LABEL directive with a version= label (release-image)
• Node.js projects (release-nodejs) using npm along with package.json (yarn is a TODO)
• Projects that use a plain-text VERSION file (by any name)
• .NET projects in c# that use a AssemblyInfo.cs file

If you need to support other project types, see below for developer information.

Overview

• The only supported source control system is git.
• Version numbers are based on Semantic Versioning.
• The default prerelease suffix in master is pre (ie, 1.0.0-pre.0), and is configurable by setting the PRE environment variable.
• The default prerelease suffix in release branches is rc for "release candidate" (ie, 1.0.0-rc.0), and is configurable via the RC environment variable.
• The master branch always contains the latest & greatest code line.
  The name of this branch is configurable via the MASTER environment variable.
• The name of the remote git repository is assumed to be origin, but is configurable via the ORIGIN environment variable.
• The version number at rest in your repository is almost always at a prerelease level, except for the short amount of time during releases where prerelease suffixes are dropped.
• As you push bug fixes to your minor release branches, assess whether they need to be git cherry-picked into your master branch, or even backported to prior release branches.

Workflow

• Create your codebase & place it under source control with git.
• Set your version to its initial value in the master branch.
  • For brand new projects, we recommend 0.1.0-pre.0.
  • For existing projects, start with a major version greater than 0, like 1.0.0-pre.0 or whatever you need.
• When you're ready to do your first "alpha", prerelease from master with the command ./release xxx pre in the master branch.
  • This will create tags & commits for your prerelease & push them, whereupon your CI/CD pipeline should kick in and actually perform your release workflow. This is independent of your CI/CD provider and is left to you.
• When you're feature complete, but not necessarily bug-free, you can create your release branch with an initial "release candidate" from the master branch with ./release xxx rc.
  • This will create a release branch in the format vx.y where x is your master branch's current major version and y is the minor version. The initial version in the vx.y branch will have the suffix -rc.0, which will be released, then it will be immediately bumped to -rc.1 in preparation for your next release candidate.
  • As you fix bugs in your release candidate, make sure to assess whether they need to be backported to master; git cherry-pick is a simple tool with which to do that.
• When you're sufficiently bug-free in your release branch to release to production, as agreed upon by your development team, QA team, and customers or customer advocates, you can perform a minor release in that branch with ./release xxx minor.
  • This will result in release vx.y.0, and the script will bump your prerelease number in the release branch to x.y.1-rc.0, where x & y are your major & minor version numbers, respectively.
  • You can continue fixing bugs in the release branch & possibly merging them back to master or even older release branches as you see fit.
  • You can then indefinitely release patches from the release branch with ./release xxx patch or prereleases with ./release xxx rc.
• In parallel after you've cut a release branch, you can continue doing work in master for your next minor release, vx.z where z is y + 1.

Running Natively

You need to have bash with git & docker installed in order to run the scripts natively.
You'll also need the technology-specific tools, like npm if you're using nodejs.

Running via Docker

You can also forgo all dependencies except docker and use this strategy via its Docker containers, as these scripts have been Dockerized under the scispike organization on Docker Hub.
For example, see https://hub.docker.com/r/scispike/release.

All you really have to do is map a volume containing the root of your git repo to /gitrepo and set the EMAIL environment variable.
You might also want to include other environment variables supported by git; see https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Internals-Environment-Variables.
If your current directory is the root of your git repo:

$ docker run --rm -i -v "$PWD:/gitrepo" -e EMAIL=you@example.com scispike/release xxx pre # or rc, minor, patch, ...  

Just replace xxx above with image, chart, nodejs, version, or whatever else we support in the future.

For Developers of This Module

• This project Eats Its Own Dog Food™.
  It uses a plain text VERSION file to store its version.
  Use the script ./release-this <level> to release it, where <level> is pre, rc, minor, patch, or major.
• ./release is basically an abstract function that implements the release workflow, but needs getVersion, setVersion and usage_xxx functions to exist at runtime for the particular technology being used.
  ./release looks for a file called ./release-$1 (where $1 is the value of the first argument given) & sources it, which provides said functions.
  Valid values for $1, initially, are chart for Helm Charts, image for Docker images, nodejs for Node.js projects using npm, and version for projects that use a simple text file called VERSION, but may increase over time.
• Tests are in test/
  • Run test/test-all.sh
  • There needs to be (more) assertions in the tests, and we need better saddy path coverage.
• To add a technology, copy & paste an existing one:
  • Look for a release-xxx script & a test/xxx directory from an existing release technology xxx, then remember to
  • update test/test-all.sh to add your new type to those tested
• To release this release script, this project Eats Its Own Dog Food™:
  • ./release-this level where level is the release level (pre, rc, ...)

NOTE: this repo now releases all technologies together under a single release, and the prior Docker images should be considered deprecated.

Running on Windows Prerequisites

• Project requires Hyper-v, Docker and WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
• Hyper-v can be added to Windows through Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off. If Hyper-v isn't an option you may need to upgrade your version of Windows.
• Install Docker for Windows and choose the option of using Windows containers (default is linux). After docker is installed check the box in Settings -> General -> Expose daemon on tcp://localhost:2375 without TSL.
• To install WSL open a powershell as admin and type Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux.
• After WSL is installed use the Windows Store to install a distro of linux (Ubuntu recommend). If not installing Ubuntu you will need to adjust the url to get the PGP Key below.
• After your distro is installed open bash and run the following commands:
  • sudo apt-get update -y
  • sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common
  • curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
  • sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable"
  • sudo apt-get update -y
  • sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce
  • sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
  • sudo apt-get install -y docker-compose
  • sudo mkdir /c adjust for your drive where docker is installed. ignore if directory already exists.
  • sudo mount --bind /mnt/c /c
• Lastly, check that everything is running correctly.
  • docker info
  • docker-compose --version