Releasing collections with release branches

Collections MUST follow the semantic versioning rules. See Releasing collections for high-level details.

Release planning and announcement 

Announce your intention to release the collection in a corresponding pinned release issue/community pinboard of the collection and in the #ansible-community Matrix/IRC channel. Repeat the announcement in any other dedicated channels if they exist.
Ensure all the other repository maintainers are informed about the time of the following release.

Releasing major collection versions 

The new version is assumed to be X.0.0.

Make sure that galaxy.yml contains the correct version number X.0.0. If that is not the case, create a PR to update it. This will make sanity tests fail for all deprecations that have to be removed in X.0.0, so this is potentially a lot of work and should have been done weeks before the major release.
Check the collection for deprecations that are planned for removal in the major release that were not reported by the sanity tests. Use past changelogs or run grep -r `X.0.0` plugins/ in the repository.
If you are going to release the community.general and community.network collections, create a new backport-X label in the corresponding repositories. Copy the styles and descriptions from the corresponding existing labels.
Ensure you are in a default branch in your local fork. These examples use main.

git status
git checkout main     # if needed

Update your local fork:

git pull --rebase upstream main

Creating the release branch 

Create a branch stable-X. Replace X with a correct number and push it to the upstream repository, NOT to the origin.:

git branch stable-X main
git push upstream stable-X

Create and checkout to another branch from the main branch:

git checkout -b update_repo

Update the version in galaxy.yml in the branch to the next expected version, for example, X.1.0.

Creating the changelogs 

Replace changelogs/changelog.yml with:

ancestor: X.0.0
releases: {}

Remove all changelog fragments from changelogs/fragments/. Removing the changelog fragments ensures that every major release has a changelog describing changes since the last major release.
Add and commit all the changes made. Push the branch to the origin repository.
Create a pull request in the collection repository. If CI tests pass, merge the pull request since the main branch is expecting changes for the next minor/major versions
Switch to the stable-X branch.
In the stable-X branch, verify that galaxy.yml contains the correct version number X.0.0.
In the stable-X branch, ensure that changelogs/changelog.yml contains a correct ancestor’s version:

ancestor: X-1.0.0
releases: {}

In the stable-X branch, add a changelog fragment changelogs/fragments/X.0.0.yml with the content:

release_summary: |-
  Write some text here that should appear as the release summary for this version.
  The format is reStructuredText, but not a list as for regular changelog fragments.
  This text will be inserted into the changelog.

For example:

release_summary: This is release 2.0.0 of ``community.foo``, released on YYYY-MM-DD.

In the stable-X branch, generate the changelogs:

antsibull-changelog release --cummulative-release

In the stable-X branch, verify that the CHANGELOG.rst looks as expected.
In the stable-X branch, update README.md so that the changelog link points to /tree/stable-X/ and no longer to /tree/main/, and change badges respectively, for example, in case of AZP, add ?branchName=stable-X to the AZP CI badge (https://dev.azure.com/ansible/community.xxx/_apis/build/status/CI?branchName=stable-X).
In the stable-X branch, add, commit, and push changes to README.md, CHANGELOG.rst and changelogs/changelog.yaml, and potentially deleted/archived fragments to the upstream repository, NOT to the origin.

Publishing the collection 

In the stable-X branch, add an annotated tag to the last commit with the collection version X.0.0. Pushing this tag to the upstream repository will make Zuul publish the collection on Ansible Galaxy.

git tag -n    # see current tags and their comments
git tag -a NEW_VERSION -m "comment here"    # the comment can be, for example, "community.foo: 2.0.0"
git push upstream NEW_VERSION

If the collection uses Zuul for publishing its releases, wait until the new version is published on the collection’s Ansible Galaxy page. It will appear in a list of tarballs available to download.
If the release tarball did not appear within several hours after pushing the tag, try to re-tag the release commit and push the tag again. In the stable-X branch being at the release commit:

git tag --delete NEW_VERSION
git push upstream :NEW_VERSION
git tag -a NEW_VERSION -m "comment here"    # the comment can be, for example, "community.foo: 2.0.0"
git push upstream NEW_VERSION

Add a GitHub release for the new tag. The title should be the version and content, such as - See https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.xxx/blob/stable-X/CHANGELOG.rst for all changes.
Announce the release through the Bullhorn Newsletter.
Announce the release in the pinned release issue/community pinboard of the collection and in the #ansible-community Matrix/Libera.Chat IRC channel.
In the stable-X branch, update the version in galaxy.yml to the next expected version, for example, X.1.0. Add, commit and push to the upstream repository.

Releasing minor collection versions 

The new version is assumed to be X.Y.0. All changes that should go into it are expected to be previously backported from the default branch to the stable-X branch.

Creating the changelogs 

In the stable-X branch, make sure that galaxy.yml contains the correct version number X.Y.0. If not, update it.
In the stable-X branch, add a changelog fragment changelogs/fragments/X.Y.0.yml with content:

release_summary: |-
  Write some text here that should appear as the release summary for this version.
  The format is reStructuredText, but not a list as for regular changelog fragments.
  This text will be inserted into the changelog.

In the stable-X branch, run:

antsibull-changelog release

In the stable-X branch, verify that CHANGELOG.rst looks as expected.
In the stable-X branch, add, commit, and push changes to CHANGELOG.rst and changelogs/changelog.yaml, and potentially deleted/archived fragments to the upstream repository, NOT to the origin.

Publishing the collection 

In the stable-X branch, add an annotated tag to the last commit with the collection version X.Y.0. Pushing this tag to the upstream repository will make Zuul publish the collection on Ansible Galaxy.

git tag -n    # see current tags and their comments
git tag -a NEW_VERSION -m "comment here"    # the comment can be, for example, "community.foo: 2.1.0"
git push upstream NEW_VERSION

Wait until the new version is published on the collection’s Ansible Galaxy page. The published version will appear in a list of tarballs available to download.
Add a GitHub release for the new tag. The title should be the version and content, such as - See https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.xxx/blob/stable-X/CHANGELOG.rst for all changes.
Announce the release through the Bullhorn Newsletter.
Announce the release in the pinned release issue/community pinboard of the collection and in the #ansible-community Matrix/IRC channel. Additionally, you can announce it using GitHub’s Releases system.
In the stable-X branch, update the version in galaxy.yml to the next expected version, for example, if you have released X.1.0, the next expected version could be X.2.0. Add, commit and push to the upstream repository.
Checkout to the main branch.
In the main branch:

If more minor versions are released before the next major version, update the version in galaxy.yml to X.(Y+1).0 as well. Create a dedicated pull request and merge.

If the next version will be a new major version, create a pull request where you update the version in galaxy.yml to (X+1).0.0. Note that the sanity tests will most likely fail since there will be deprecations with removal scheduled for (X+1).0.0, which are flagged by the tests.

For every such deprecation, decide:

Whether to remove them now. For example, you remove the complete modules/plugins or you remove redirects.

Whether to add ignore entries to the corresponding tests/sanity/ignore-*.txt file and create issues, for example for removed features in modules/plugins.

Once the CI tests pass, merge the pull request. Make sure that this pull request is merged not too much later after the release for version_added sanity tests not to expect the wrong version for the new feature pull request.

Note

It makes sense to already do some removals in the days before the release. These removals must happen in the main branch and must not be backported.

Releasing patch versions 

The new version is assumed to be X.Y.Z, and the previous patch version is assumed to be X.Y.z with z < Z. z is frequently 0 since patch releases are uncommon.

Releasing when more minor versions are expected 

Checkout the X.Y.z tag.
Update galaxy.yml so that the version is X.Y.Z. Add and commit.
Cherry-pick all changes from stable-X that were added after X.Y.z and should go into X.Y.Z.
Add a changelog fragment changelogs/fragments/X.Y.Z.yml with content:

release_summary: |-
  Write some text here that should appear as the release summary for this version.
  The format is reStructuredText but not a list as for regular changelog fragments.
  This text will be inserted into the changelog.

Add to Git and commit.

Generate the changelogs.

antsibull-changelog release

Verify that CHANGELOG.rst looks as expected.
Add and commit changes to CHANGELOG.rst and changelogs/changelog.yaml, and potentially deleted/archived fragments.

Publishing the collection

Add an annotated tag to the last commit with the collection version X.Y.Z. Pushing this tag to the upstream repository will make Zuul publish the collection on Ansible Galaxy.

git tag -n    # see current tags and their comments
git tag -a NEW_VERSION -m "comment here"    # the comment can be, for example, "community.foo: 2.1.1"
git push upstream NEW_VERSION

Wait until the new version is published on the collection’s Ansible Galaxy page. It will appear in a list of tarballs available to download.
Add a GitHub release for the new tag. The title should be the version and content, such as - See https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.xxx/blob/stable-X/CHANGELOG.rst for all changes.

Note

The data for this release is only contained in a tag, and not in a branch, in particular not in stable-X. This is deliberate, since the next minor release X.(Y+1).0 already contains the changes for X.Y.Z as well since these were cherry-picked from stable-X.

Announce the release through the Bullhorn Newsletter.
Announce the release in the pinned release issue/community pinboard of the collection and in the #ansible-community Matrix/IRC channel <https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/devel/community/communication.html#real-time-chat>.

Releasing when no more minor versions are expected 

In the stable-X branch, make sure that galaxy.yml contains the correct version number X.Y.Z. If not, update it!
In the stable-X branch, add a changelog fragment changelogs/fragments/X.Y.Z.yml with content:

release_summary: |-
  Write some text here that should appear as the release summary for this version.
  The format is reStructuredText, but not a list as for regular changelog fragments.
  This text will be inserted into the changelog.

Generate the changelogs in the stable-X branch.

antsibull-changelog release

In the stable-X branch, verify that CHANGELOG.rst looks as expected.
In the stable-X branch, add, commit, and push changes to CHANGELOG.rst and changelogs/changelog.yaml, and potentially deleted/archived fragments to the upstream repository, NOT to the origin.

Publishing the collection

In the stable-X branch, add an annotated tag to the last commit with the collection version X.Y.Z. Pushing this tag to the upstream repository will make Zuul publish the collection on Ansible Galaxy.

git tag -n    # see current tags and their comments
git tag -a NEW_VERSION -m "comment here"    # the comment can be, for example, "community.foo: 2.1.1"
git push upstream NEW_VERSION

Wait until the new version is published on the collection’s Ansible Galaxy page. It will appear in a list of tarballs available to download.
Add a GitHub release for the new tag. Title should be the version and content, such as: See https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.xxx/blob/stable-X/CHANGELOG.rst for all changes.
Announce the release through the Bullhorn Newsletter.
Announce the release in the pinned issue/community pinboard of the collection and in the #ansible-community Matrix/IRC channel.