prepare-patch-release

---

name: prepare-patch-release description: Do all the tasks needed for a patch release of the project.argument-hint: [new-version]

Do all the tasks needed for a patch release of the project. These patch releases generally happen on the first day of every month.

Arguments: $ARGUMENTS

• First argument (optional): the version of the upcoming release we are preparing. If omitted, find the most recent tag on this branch, and the new version will update the third portion of the version. It might be either a version number (like 3.1.4.0) or a tag (like v3.1.4.0).

Hint: The numeric "version" is a four-part numeric deignation with the pattern MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.TWEAK. The "version tag" is usually the numeric version with a "v" prepended, for example, v3.1.4.0.

Steps and Checklist

• Determine the version of the new release.
• Update the main @CMakeLists.txt.
• Use the "release-notes-update" skill to update @CHANGES.md.
• Review the release notes to ensure that the changes do not deprecate any API calls or break API or ABI backward-compatibility, or remove support for any dependency or toolchain versions. If you think these rules are being violated, ask for confirmation.
• Review @README.md for changes.
• Review @INSTALL.md for changes.
• Review @CREDITS.md for changes.
• Review @SECURITY.md for changes.

Steps to determine the versions of the last and new releases.

1. Determine the previous tag if not provided by looking at the most recent git tag in the current branch, and deducing the 4-part version number from that.
2. The assumed new version for a patch release has the same major and minor numbers, the patch number is incremented by one since the last tag, and the tweak number is "0".
3. If no optional version was present in the arguments, use the assumed new version.
4. If a version was supplied in the arguments, double check that it differs from the last tag as explained above. If it does not, ask for verification that the version requested is correct before proceeding.

Steps to update CMakeLists.txt

1. In the main @CMakeLists.txt, alter the version to that of the new release, if it isn't already the same.
2. For a patch release, ensure that ${PROJECT_NAME}_SUPPORTED_RELEASE should be set to ON. In main (not yet a supported release) it shold be OFF. If you find these to not be as expected, ask for confirmation of whether to fix.
3. For a patch release, PROJECT_VERSEION_RELEASE_TYPE should be set to empty (""). In main, it will typically be "dev", "beta", or other designations. If you find these to not be as expected, ask for confirmation of whether to fix.

Reviewing README.md

If this release added support for any new image file formats, be sure that README.md mentions them in its list of image formats supported.

Reviewing INSTALL.md

If any of the new commits (as described in the release notes for this version) appear to add dependencies, or add support for new versions of dependencies, be sure that INSTALL.md is updated to include that dependency (if not already listed among the required and optional dependencies), and reflects the latest version that we claim to support.

Double check @externalpackages.cmake and ensure that any minimum required versions of dependencies that cmake will enforce match the oldest versions of those dependencies as documentd in INSTALL.md.

Reviewing CREDITS.md

The @CREDITS.md file lists all known contributors to the project, sorted alpha by first name. In cases where an author's actual name is unknown, we use the GitHub userid.

Ensure that any authors referenced in the new release notes for the version we are releasing are inserted in the credit list, if they are not already present. You don't need to check older versions, we presume those have already been included.

Reviewing SECURITY.md

The @SECURITY.md file lists which versions are currently supported at what levels, and lists all previously-fixed SVE's or security advisories. Be sure to check this file in older branches (the last two releases, say), and if you are preparing a patch release, also check in main and more recent (higher numbered) releases for more recently modified SECURITY.md, and be sure that this branch gets amended with any information that seems to have been updated more recently in those other branches. Check whichever is newer of the local and remote copy of that branch, since the local one may have had release notes or its version in CMakeLists.txt updated, but not yet pushed to GitHub.

Reference

• Full release procedures: docs/dev/RELEASING.md
• Steps for updating release notes: release-notes-update/SKILL.md