This document describes the technical aspects of the Node.js release process. The intended audience is those who have been authorized by the Node.js Foundation Technical Steering Committee (TSC) to create, promote, and sign official release builds for Node.js, hosted on https://nodejs.org/.
Release authorization is given by the Node.js TSC. Once authorized, an individual must have the following:
There are three relevant Jenkins jobs that should be used for a release flow:
a. Test runs: node-test-pull-request is used for a final full-test run to ensure that the current HEAD is stable.
b. Nightly builds: (optional) iojs+release can be used to create a nightly release for the current HEAD if public test releases are required. Builds triggered with this job are published straight to https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/ and are available for public download.
c. Release builds: iojs+release does all of the work to build all required release assets. Promotion of the release files is a manual step once they are ready (see below).
The Node.js build team is able to provide this access to individuals authorized by the TSC.
The dist user on nodejs.org controls the assets available in https://nodejs.org/download/. https://nodejs.org/dist/ is an alias for https://nodejs.org/download/release/.
The Jenkins release build workers upload their artifacts to the web server as the staging user. The dist user has access to move these assets to public access while, for security, the staging user does not.
Nightly builds are promoted automatically on the server by a cron task for the dist user.
Release builds require manual promotion by an individual with SSH access to the server as the dist user. The Node.js build team is able to provide this access to individuals authorized by the TSC.
A SHASUMS256.txt file is produced for every promoted build, nightly, and releases. Additionally for releases, this file is signed by the individual responsible for that release. In order to be able to verify downloaded binaries, the public should be able to check that the SHASUMS256.txt file has been signed by someone who has been authorized to create a release.
The GPG keys should be fetchable from a known third-party keyserver. The SKS Keyservers at https://sks-keyservers.net are recommended. Use the submission form to submit a new GPG key. Keys should be fetchable via:
$ gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys <FINGERPRINT>The key you use may be a child/subkey of an existing key.
Additionally, full GPG key fingerprints for individuals authorized to release should be listed in the Node.js GitHub README.md file.
Notes:
- Dates listed below as "YYYY-MM-DD" should be the date of the release as
UTC. Use
date -u +'%Y-%m-%d'to find out what this is. - Version strings are listed below as "vx.y.z" or "x.y.z". Substitute for the release version.
- Examples will use the fictional release version
1.2.3.
Before preparing a Node.js release, the Build Working Group must be notified at least one business day in advance of the expected release. Coordinating with Build is essential to make sure that the CI works, release files are published, and the release blog post is available on the project website.
Build can be contacted best by opening up an issue on the Build issue
tracker, and by posting in #node-build on webchat.freenode.net.
When preparing a security release, contact Build at least two weekdays in
advance of the expected release. To ensure that the security patch(es) can be
properly tested, run a node-test-pull-request job against the master branch
of the nodejs-private/node-private repository a day or so before the
CI lockdown procedure begins. This is to confirm that Jenkins can properly
access the private repository.
Checkout the staging branch locally.
$ git remote update
$ git checkout v1.x-staging
$ git reset --hard upstream/v1.x-stagingIf the staging branch is not up to date relative to master, bring the
appropriate commits into it. To determine the relevant commits, use
branch-diff. The tool is available on
npm and should be installed globally or run with npx. It depends on our commit
metadata, as well as the GitHub labels such as semver-minor and
semver-major. One drawback is that when the PR-URL metadata is accidentally
omitted from a commit, the commit will show up because it's unsure if it's a
duplicate or not.
For a list of commits that could be landed in a patch release on v1.x:
$ branch-diff v1.x-staging master --exclude-label=semver-major,semver-minor,dont-land-on-v1.x,backport-requested-v1.x --filter-release --format=simpleCarefully review the list of commits looking for errors (incorrect PR-URL,
incorrect semver, etc.). Commits labeled as semver-minor or semver-major
should only be cherry-picked when appropriate for the type of release being
made. Previous release commits and version bumps do not need to be
cherry-picked.
If commits were cherry-picked in this step, push to the staging branch to keep it up-to-date.
$ git push upstream v1.x-stagingCreate a new branch named vx.y.z-proposal, off the corresponding staging
branch.
$ git checkout -b v1.2.3-proposal upstream/v1.x-stagingSet the version for the proposed release using the following macros, which are
already defined in src/node_version.h:
#define NODE_MAJOR_VERSION x
#define NODE_MINOR_VERSION y
#define NODE_PATCH_VERSION zSet the NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE macro value to 1. This causes the build to
be produced with a version string that does not have a trailing pre-release tag:
#define NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE 1Also consider whether to bump NODE_MODULE_VERSION:
This macro is used to signal an ABI version for native addons. It currently has two common uses in the community:
- Determining what API to work against for compiling native addons, e.g. NAN uses it to form a compatibility-layer for much of what it wraps.
- Determining the ABI for downloading pre-built binaries of native addons, e.g.
node-pre-gyp uses this value as
exposed via
process.versions.modulesto help determine the appropriate binary to download at install-time.
The general rule is to bump this version when there are breaking ABI changes and also if there are non-trivial API changes. The rules are not yet strictly defined, so if in doubt, please confer with someone that will have a more informed perspective, such as a member of the NAN team.
Note: It is current TSC policy to bump major version when ABI changes. If you
see a need to bump NODE_MODULE_VERSION then you should consult the TSC.
Commits may need to be reverted or a major version bump may need to happen.
Collect a formatted list of commits since the last release. Use
changelog-maker to do this:
$ changelog-maker --groupNote that changelog-maker counts commits since the last tag and if the last tag
in the repository was not on the current branch you may have to supply a
--start-ref argument:
$ changelog-maker --group --start-ref v1.2.2There is a separate CHANGELOG_Vx.md file for each major Node.js release line.
These are located in the doc/changelogs/ directory. Once the formatted list of
changes is collected, it must be added to the top of the relevant changelog file
in the release branch (e.g. a release for Node.js v4 would be added to the
/doc/changelogs/CHANGELOG_V4.md).
Please do not add the changelog entries to the root CHANGELOG.md file.
The new entry should take the following form:
<a id="x.y.x"></a>
## YYYY-MM-DD, Version x.y.z (Release Type), @releaser
### Notable changes
* List interesting changes here
* Particularly changes that are responsible for minor or major version bumps
* Also be sure to look at any changes introduced by dependencies such as npm
* ... and include any notable items from there
### Commits
* Include the full list of commits since the last release here. Do not include "Working on X.Y.Z+1" commits.The release type should be either Current, LTS, or Maintenance, depending on the type of release being produced.
You can use branch-diff to get a list of commits with the notable-change
label:
$ branch-diff upstream/v1.x v1.2.3-proposal --require-label=notable-change -format=simpleBe sure that the <a> tag, as well as the two headings, are not indented at
all.
At the top of the root CHANGELOG.md file, there is a table indexing all
releases in each major release line. A link to the new release needs to be added
to it. Follow the existing examples and be sure to add the release to the top
of the list. The most recent release for each release line is shown in bold
in the index. When updating the index, please make sure to update the display
accordingly by removing the bold styling from the previous release.
If this release includes new APIs then it is necessary to document that they
were first added in this version. The relevant commits should already include
REPLACEME tags as per the example in the
docs README. Check for these tags with grep REPLACEME doc/api/*.md, and substitute this node version with sed -i "s/REPLACEME/$VERSION/g" doc/api/*.md or perl -pi -e "s/REPLACEME/$VERSION/g" doc/api/*.md.
Note: $VERSION should be prefixed with a v.
If this release includes any new deprecations it is necessary to ensure that
those are assigned a proper static deprecation code. These are listed in the
docs (see doc/api/deprecations.md) and in the source as DEP00XX. The code
must be assigned a number (e.g. DEP0012). Note that this assignment should
occur when the PR is landed, but a check will be made when the release build is
run.
The CHANGELOG.md, doc/changelogs/CHANGELOG_Vx.md, src/node_version.h, and
REPLACEME changes should be the final commit that will be tagged for the
release. When committing these to git, use the following message format:
YYYY-MM-DD, Version x.y.z (Release Type)
Notable changes:
* Copy the notable changes list here, reformatted for plain-textPush the release branch to nodejs/node, not to your own fork. This allows
release branches to more easily be passed between members of the release team if
necessary.
Create a pull request targeting the correct release line. For example, a
v5.3.0-proposal PR should target v5.x, not master. Paste the CHANGELOG
modifications into the body of the PR so that collaborators can see what is
changing. These PRs should be left open for at least 24 hours, and can be
updated as new commits land.
If you need any additional information about any of the commits, this PR is a good place to @-mention the relevant contributors.
After opening the PR, update the release commit to include PR-URL metadata and
force-push the proposal.
Run a node-test-pull-request
test run to ensure that the build is stable and the HEAD commit is ready for
release.
Also run a node-test-commit-v8-linux
test run if the release contains changes to deps/v8.
Perform some smoke-testing. There is the
citgm-smoker CI job for this
purpose. Run it once with the base vx.x branch as a reference and with the
proposal branch to check if new regressions could be introduced in the
ecosystem.
If there is a reason to produce a test release for the purpose of having others try out installers or specifics of builds, produce a nightly build using iojs+release and wait for it to drop in https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/. Follow the directions and enter a proper length commit SHA, enter a date string, and select "nightly" for "disttype".
This is particularly recommended if there has been recent work relating to the macOS or Windows installers as they are not tested in any way by CI.
Use iojs+release to produce release artifacts. Enter the commit that you want to build from and select "release" for "disttype".
Artifacts from each worker are uploaded to Jenkins and are available if further testing is required. Use this opportunity particularly to test macOS and Windows installers if there are any concerns. Click through to the individual workers for a run to find the artifacts.
All release workers should achieve "SUCCESS" (and be green, not red). A release with failures should not be promoted as there are likely problems to be investigated.
You can rebuild the release as many times as you need prior to promoting them if you encounter problems.
If you have an error on Windows and need to start again, be aware that you'll get immediate failure unless you wait up to 2 minutes for the linker to stop from previous jobs. i.e. if a build fails after having started compiling, that worker will still have a linker process that's running for another couple of minutes which will prevent Jenkins from clearing the workspace to start a new one. This isn't a big deal, it's just a hassle because it'll result in another failed build if you start again!
ARMv7 takes the longest to compile. Unfortunately ccache isn't as effective on release builds, I think it's because of the additional macro settings that go in to a release build that nullify previous builds. Also most of the release build machines are separate to the test build machines so they don't get any benefit from ongoing compiles between releases. You can expect 1.5 hours for the ARMv7 builder to complete and you should normally wait for this to finish. It is possible to rush a release out if you want and add additional builds later but we normally provide ARMv7 from initial promotion.
You do not have to wait for the ARMv6 / Raspberry PI builds if they take longer
than the others. It is only necessary to have the main Linux (x64 and x86),
macOS .pkg and .tar.gz, Windows (x64 and x86) .msi and .exe, source, headers,
and docs (both produced currently by an macOS worker). If you promote builds
before ARM builds have finished, you must repeat the promotion step for the
ARM builds when they are ready. If the ARMv6 build failed for some reason you
can use the
iojs-release-arm6-only
build in the release CI to re-run the build only for ARMv6. When launching the
build make sure to use the same commit hash as for the original release.
Jenkins collects the artifacts from the builds, allowing you to download and install the new build. Make sure that the build appears correct. Check the version numbers, and perform some basic checks to confirm that all is well with the build before moving forward.
Once you have produced builds that you're happy with, create a new tag. By waiting until this stage to create tags, you can discard a proposed release if something goes wrong or additional commits are required. Once you have created a tag and pushed it to GitHub, you must not delete and re-tag. If you make a mistake after tagging then you'll have to version-bump and start again and count that tag/version as lost.
Tag summaries have a predictable format, look at a recent tag to see, git tag -v v6.0.0. The message should look something like 2016-04-26 Node.js v6.0.0 (Current) Release.
Install git-secure-tag npm module:
$ npm install -g git-secure-tagCreate a tag using the following command:
$ git secure-tag <vx.y.z> <commit-sha> -sm 'YYYY-MM-DD Node.js vx.y.z (Release Type) Release'The tag must be signed using the GPG key that's listed for you on the project README.
Push the tag to the repo before you promote the builds. If you haven't pushed your tag first, then build promotion won't work properly. Push the tag using the following command:
$ git push <remote> <vx.y.z>On release proposal branch, edit src/node_version.h again and:
- Increment
NODE_PATCH_VERSIONby one - Change
NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASEback to0
Commit this change with the following commit message format:
Working on vx.y.z # where 'z' is the incremented patch number
PR-URL: <full URL to your release proposal PR>This sets up the branch so that nightly builds are produced with the next version number and a pre-release tag.
Merge your release proposal branch into the stable branch that you are releasing from and rebase the corresponding staging branch on top of that.
$ git checkout v1.x
$ git merge --ff-only v1.2.3-proposal
$ git push upstream v1.x
$ git checkout v1.x-staging
$ git rebase v1.x
$ git push upstream v1.x-stagingCherry-pick the release commit to master. After cherry-picking, edit
src/node_version.h to ensure the version macros contain whatever values were
previously on master. NODE_VERSION_IS_RELEASE should be 0. Do not
cherry-pick the "Working on vx.y.z" commit to master.
Run make lint before pushing to master, to make sure the Changelog
formatting passes the lint rules on master.
It is important that the same individual who signed the release tag be the one to promote the builds as the SHASUMS256.txt file needs to be signed with the same GPG key!
Use tools/release.sh to promote and sign the build. When run, it will perform
the following actions:
a. Select a GPG key from your private keys. It will use a command similar
to: gpg --list-secret-keys to list your keys. If you don't have any keys, it
will bail. (Why are you releasing? Your tag should be signed!) If you have only
one key, it will use that. If you have more than one key it will ask you to
select one from the list. Be sure to use the same key that you signed your git
tag with.
b. Log in to the server via SSH and check for releases that can be promoted,
along with the list of artifacts. It will use the dist-promotable command on
the server to find these. You will be asked, for each promotable release,
whether you want to proceed. If there is more than one release to promote (there
shouldn't be), be sure to only promote the release you are responsible for.
c. Log in to the server via SSH and run the promote script for the given
release. The command on the server will be similar to: dist-promote vx.y.z.
After this step, the release artifacts will be available for download and a
SHASUMS256.txt file will be present. The release will still be unsigned,
however.
d. Use scp to download SHASUMS256.txt to a temporary directory on your
computer.
e. Sign the SHASUMS256.txt file using a command similar to: gpg --default-key YOURKEY --clearsign /path/to/SHASUMS256.txt. You will be prompted
by GPG for your password. The signed file will be named SHASUMS256.txt.asc.
f. Output an ASCII armored version of your public GPG key using a command
similar to: gpg --default-key YOURKEY --armor --export --output /path/to/SHASUMS256.txt.gpg. This does not require your password and is mainly
a convenience for users, although not the recommended way to get a copy of your
key.
g. Upload the SHASUMS256.txt files back to the server into the release directory.
If you didn't wait for ARM builds in the previous step before promoting the
release, you should re-run tools/release.sh after the ARM builds have
finished. That will move the ARM artifacts into the correct location. You will
be prompted to re-sign SHASUMS256.txt.
Note: It is possible to only sign a release by running ./tools/release.sh -s vX.Y.Z.
Your release should be available at https://nodejs.org/dist/vx.y.z/ and
https://nodejs.org/dist/latest/. Check that the appropriate files are in
place. You may want to check that the binaries are working as appropriate and
have the right internal version strings. Check that the API docs are available
at https://nodejs.org/api/. Check that the release catalog files are correct
at https://nodejs.org/dist/index.tab and https://nodejs.org/dist/index.json.
There is an automatic build that is kicked off when you promote new builds, so within a few minutes nodejs.org will be listing your new version as the latest release. However, the blog post is not yet fully automatic.
Create a new blog post by running the nodejs.org release-post.js script.
This script will use the promoted builds and changelog to generate the post. Run
npm run serve to preview the post locally before pushing to the
nodejs.org repo.
-
You can add a short blurb just under the main heading if you want to say something important, otherwise the text should be publication ready.
-
The links to the download files won't be complete unless you waited for the ARMv6 builds. Any downloads that are missing will have
*Coming soon*next to them. It's your responsibility to manually update these later when you have the outstanding builds. -
The SHASUMS256.txt.asc content is at the bottom of the post. When you update the list of tarballs you'll need to copy/paste the new contents of this file to reflect those changes.
-
Always use pull-requests on the nodejs.org repo. Be respectful of that working group, but you shouldn't have to wait for PR sign-off. Opening a PR and merging it immediately should be fine. However, please follow the following commit message format:
Blog: vX.Y.Z release post Refs: <full URL to your release proposal PR>
-
Changes to
masteron the nodejs.org repo will trigger a new build of nodejs.org so your changes should appear in a few minutes after pushing.
The nodejs.org website will automatically rebuild and include the new version. To announce the build on Twitter through the official @nodejs account, email [email protected] with a message such as:
v5.8.0 of @nodejs is out: https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v5.8.0/ … something here about notable changes
To ensure communication goes out with the timing of the blog post, please allow 24 hour prior notice. If known, please include the date and time the release will be shared with the community in the email to coordinate these announcements.
- Got to the New release page.
- Select the tag version you pushed earlier.
- For release title, copy the title from the changelog.
- For the description, copy the rest of the changelog entry.
- Click on the "Publish release" button.
Close your release proposal PR and delete the proposal branch.
In whatever form you do this...