How to Release

This guide is for the release manager, and for anyone checking a release candidate before voting. Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer follows the Apache release process: a source release is voted on by the SkyWalking PMC, and only after the vote passes is anything published as a release.

What counts as a release

A release is the vote, the signed packages in the release directory on dist.apache.org, and the announcement on the website and the announce list. Nothing else is. A git tag is a candidate. A GitHub release page, a container image tag and a binaries artifact are conveniences this project’s CI produces, and the GitHub release is only the trigger that publishes the image after the vote. Until the website announces a version, it is not an official release, whatever GitHub shows.

Prerequisites

  1. Close every issue in the milestone, or move what is unfinished to the next one.
  2. Make sure the changelog is complete. The version has had its own page, docs/en/changes/changes-$VERSION.md, since its development started, and Current Version in the menu points at it.
  3. make check passes on main.

Prepare

git checkout main && git pull
tools/release.sh prepare

It asks for the version to release and the version development moves to, or takes them as arguments. On a branch release/$VERSION cut from main it then, in this order:

  1. refuses a dirty tree, an existing tag or branch, and a next version that does not advance;
  2. checks the license headers and runs make check (--skip-check leaves that out);
  3. removes the in-development note from the version’s changelog page, lists the version under Changelog and in CHANGES.md, writes the release notes to docs/en/changes/release-notes-$VERSION.md, commits “Release $VERSION”, and puts the annotated tag v$VERSION on that commit, so the tag carries the finished changelog and the notes;
  4. opens the next version in a second commit: its changelog page with the in-development note, Current Version pointed at it, and its entry in CHANGES.md and on the welcome page;
  5. pushes the branch and the tag, and opens the pull request against main.

main is never pushed to directly. --dry-run prints the plan and writes nothing; --no-push stops after the commits and prints the push and pull request commands.

Review and merge the pull request.

Complete

tools/release.sh complete

It asks for the version, or takes it as an argument, checks that the tag is on GitHub and carries the release notes, and creates the GitHub release: tag v$VERSION, title $VERSION, the notes as stored in the tag, not a draft, not a prerelease. That is all it does. CI publishes the container image under $VERSION, and under latest when it is the newest release, when the released event fires, and attaches the binary packages for every platform, with their checksums, to the release, which is where people download them.

A release that predates this workflow, or a publish that failed, is published by running the CI workflow by hand with the tag as its input.

Apache release

Not in use yet. The project is not making Apache releases at this stage, and what the two commands above produce is a GitHub release and an image, which is not one. When Apache releases start, these are the steps, between Prepare and Complete, that make a version official.

Build and sign the candidate

Have a GPG key: upload its public key to a key server, add its fingerprint at id.apache.org, and add it to the SkyWalking KEYS file, which only a PMC member can commit to. Then, with the tag checked out:

git checkout v$VERSION
make release VERSION=$VERSION

make release refuses to run unless the tag is checked out and the tree is clean, because the binaries are built from the working tree. It writes into dist/:

  • the source package, apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-src.tgz, which is git archive of the tag and so holds exactly what is committed;
  • one binary package per platform, apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-bin-<os>-<arch>, as .tgz for macOS and Linux and .zip for Windows, each holding the binary, the LICENSE and NOTICE of a binary distribution, generated into dist-material/, and licenses/, the license text of every module built into the binary;
  • a .sha512 checksum and an .asc signature beside every package.

The platforms are the PLATFORMS list in the Makefile: macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, Linux on x86-64 and ARM 64, and Windows on x86-64. Every one is cross-compiled from the release manager’s machine, with the Go version the module declares.

Upload the candidate

svn co https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/skywalking/ skywalking-dev
mkdir -p skywalking-dev/ai-sessionizer/$VERSION
cp dist/apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-*.tgz* dist/apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-*.zip* skywalking-dev/ai-sessionizer/$VERSION/
cd skywalking-dev/ai-sessionizer && svn add $VERSION && svn commit -m "Draft Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer release $VERSION"

Call the vote

Send to dev@skywalking.apache.org. Check every link before sending.

Subject: [VOTE] Release Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer version $VERSION

Hi the SkyWalking Community:
This is a call for vote to release Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer version $VERSION.

Release notes:
 * https://github.com/apache/skywalking-ai-sessionizer/blob/v$VERSION/docs/en/changes/changes-$VERSION.md

Release Candidate:
 * https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/skywalking/ai-sessionizer/$VERSION
 * sha512 checksums
   - <sha512> apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-src.tgz
   - <sha512> apache-skywalking-ai-sessionizer-$VERSION-bin-<os>-<arch>.tgz, one per platform

Release Tag:
 * (Git Tag) v$VERSION

Release Commit Hash:
 * https://github.com/apache/skywalking-ai-sessionizer/tree/<commit hash>

Keys to verify the Release Candidate:
 * https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/skywalking/KEYS

Guide to build the release from source:
 * https://github.com/apache/skywalking-ai-sessionizer/blob/v$VERSION/docs/en/guides/how-to-release.md

Voting will start now and will remain open for at least 72 hours. All PMC members are requested to give their votes.

[ ] +1 Release this package.
[ ] +0 No opinion.
[ ] -1 Do not release this package because....

Thanks.

Check the candidate

Everyone voting should check these before a +1:

  1. The source package and every binary package are in the candidate directory, each with its .asc and .sha512.
  2. shasum -a 512 -c <package>.sha512 passes for each.
  3. gpg --verify <package>.asc passes for each, against KEYS.
  4. LICENSE and NOTICE are in every package, a binary package also carries licenses/, the NOTICE of a binary package carries the notices of the bundled modules, and every source file carries the license header. make dep-licenses-check says whether dist-material/ is what the dependencies resolve to.
  5. The source package builds and tests: unpack it, then make build && make test.
  6. A binary works on real data, whether built from source or unpacked from the package for your platform: asz version, asz sources, asz collect -once, asz parse, asz verify.

A PMC vote is binding. The vote passes after 72 hours with at least three binding +1 and more +1 than -1. Send the result to the same list, listing the voters:

Subject: [RESULT][VOTE] Release Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer version $VERSION

72 hours passed, we have got (N) +1 bindings (and M +1 non-bindings):

+1 bindings:
<names>

+1 non-bindings:
<names>

Thank you for voting, I will continue the release process.

Publish

  1. Move the candidate to the release directory. Only a PMC member can do this.

    svn mv https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/skywalking/ai-sessionizer/$VERSION \
       https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/skywalking/ai-sessionizer/$VERSION \
       -m "Release Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer $VERSION"

  2. Run tools/release.sh complete for the GitHub release, the image and the attached packages, as above. The signed packages are also distributed through dist.apache.org and the downloads page, like every SkyWalking project.

  3. Update the website: add the version and its commit to the project’s entry in data/docs.yml so the documentation is published for it, and add the download link.

  4. Announce to dev@skywalking.apache.org and announce@apache.org from an Apache address.

    Subject: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer $VERSION Released

Hi the SkyWalking Community,

On behalf of the SkyWalking Team, I am glad to announce that Apache SkyWalking AI Sessionizer $VERSION is now released.

SkyWalking AI Sessionizer: conversation-level observability for long-lived AI agents. It assembles fragmented agent telemetry into one durable conversation structure.

SkyWalking: APM (application performance monitor) tool for distributed systems, especially designed for microservices, cloud native and container-based architectures.

Download Links: https://skywalking.apache.org/downloads/
Release Notes: https://github.com/apache/skywalking-ai-sessionizer/blob/v$VERSION/docs/en/changes/changes-$VERSION.md
Website: https://skywalking.apache.org/
Documents: https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/skywalking-ai-sessionizer/v$VERSION/readme/

Resources:
- Issue: https://github.com/apache/skywalking/issues
- Mailing list: dev@skywalking.apache.org

The Apache SkyWalking Team

Remove old releases

Keep only the releases users should choose in the release directory. Older ones stay available in the Apache archive.