This document outlines the process for releasing versions of the form `$MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH`.
We distinguish between two types of releases: *regular* and *maintenance* releases.
Regular releases are releases of a new major or minor version as well as patches of the most recent release.
Maintenance releases, on the other hand, are required for patches of older releases.
You should coordinate with the other maintainers on the release date, if possible.
This date will be part of the release entry in [CHANGELOG.md](../CHANGELOG.md) and it should match the dates of the remaining steps in the release process (including the date of the tag and the GitHub release).
It is best if the maintainers are present during the release, so they can help ensure that the process is followed correctly and, in the case of a regular release, they are aware that they should not modify the master branch between merging the PR in step 1 and the PR in step 3.
This process also assumes that there will be no minor releases for old major releases.
## Regular release
1. Open a PR to the master branch with a commit (using message `"release: prepare for $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH"`, for example) that
* finalizes the release notes in [CHANGELOG.md](../CHANGELOG.md) (make sure to include an entry for `### ABI Compatibility`) and
* updates `_PKG_VERSION_*`, `_LIB_VERSION_*`, and sets `_PKG_VERSION_IS_RELEASE` to `true` in `configure.ac`.
2. After the PR is merged, tag the commit and push it:
```
RELEASE_COMMIT=<mergecommitofstep1>
git tag -s v$MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH -m "libsecp256k1 $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH" $RELEASE_COMMIT
3. Open a PR to the master branch with a commit (using message `"release: bump version after $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH"`, for example) that sets `_PKG_VERSION_IS_RELEASE` to `false` and `_PKG_VERSION_PATCH` to `$PATCH + 1` and increases `_LIB_VERSION_REVISION`. If other maintainers are not present to approve the PR, it can be merged without ACKs.
4. Create a new GitHub release with a link to the corresponding entry in [CHANGELOG.md](../CHANGELOG.md).
## Maintenance release
Note that bugfixes only need to be backported to releases for which no compatible release without the bug exists.
1. If `$PATCH = 1`, create maintenance branch `$MAJOR.$MINOR`:
2. Open a pull request to the `$MAJOR.$MINOR` branch that
* includes the bugfixes,
* finalizes the release notes,
* bumps `_PKG_VERSION_PATCH` and `_LIB_VERSION_REVISION` in `configure.ac` (with commit message `"release: update PKG_ and LIB_VERSION for $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH"`, for example).
3. After the PRs are merged, update the release branch and tag the commit:
```
git checkout $MAJOR.$MINOR && git pull
git tag -s v$MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH -m "libsecp256k1 $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH"
5. Create a new GitHub release with a link to the corresponding entry in [CHANGELOG.md](../CHANGELOG.md).
6. Open PR to the master branch that includes a commit (with commit message `"release notes: add $MAJOR.$MINOR.$PATCH"`, for example) that adds release notes to [CHANGELOG.md](../CHANGELOG.md).
