2.3. MET Development Release

Create a new vX.Y.Z-betaN or vX.Y.Z-rcN development release from the develop branch while working toward an official vX.Y.Z release.

2.3.1. Open Release Issue

  • Define a new issue in the MET repository to create the new release.

    • “Create the MET vX.Y.Z release” for an official or bugfix release.

    • “Create the MET vX.Y.Z-betaN (or -rcN) release” for a development release.

  • For an official or development release, assign the issue to the corresponding MET development project.

  • For a bugfix release, assign the issue to the organization level support project.

  • Select the target milestone.

2.3.2. Clone the Project Repository

  • Create and work in a new directory to ensure a fresh environment:

mkdir release-X.Y.Z
cd release-X.Y.Z

  • Run the clone command to obtain the repository.

Using SSH:

git clone git@github.com:dtcenter/MET

Using HTTP:

git clone https://github.com/dtcenter/MET

  • Enter the project repository directory:

cd MET

2.3.3. Checkout the Develop Branch

  • Checkout the develop branch:

git checkout develop

2.3.4. Create Release Feature Branch

  • Create a feature branch in which to update the version number and add release notes being sure to include the GitHub issue number for the new release.

git checkout -b feature_NNNN_vX.Y.Z       # for an official or bugfix release
git checkout -b feature_NNNN_vX.Y.Z-betaN # for a development release
git checkout -b feature_NNNN_vX.Y.Z-rcN   # for a development release

2.3.5. Update Version Number

  • Prior to creating the first development release (e.g. beta1) for a new version, the official release version number should have already been updated.

  • If the official release version has not yet been updated (e.g. beta1), follow the official release instructions to do so.

  • If the official release version has already been updated (e.g. beta2 and beyond), do the following:

    • In docs/conf.py, update the version, release_year, and release_date variables for the documentation.

2.3.6. Update Release Notes

You can refer to the GitHub Project board to see what has changed for this release. Open the following URL in a browser:

https://github.com/orgs/dtcenter/projects

  • Click on the project that corresponds to this release, i.e. MET-X.Y.Z Development

  • Navigate to the “Closed Issues” tab. If this tab does not exist, see GitHub Projects to manage development to create it.

  • Update the release-notes.rst file found in the User’s Guide directory.

  • Consider organizing release notes into logical groups (e.g. Enhancements, Bugfixes, Documentation, etc.) and modifying GitHub issue titles for consistency. The release notes should match the GitHub issue titles, when possible.

  • Use your best judgement to apply bold formatting for any major or important changes.

  • If you are creating a beta1 release, remove the previous version’s release notes, i.e. for 3.0.0-beta1, remove all 2.Y.Z notes and start a 3.0.0 section with the format “Version X.Y.Z release notes (YYYYMMDD)”.

  • If you are creating a betaX release, add a new betaX section above the betaX-1 release.

  • Commit changes and push to GitHub.

2.3.7. Update Upgrade Instructions

Occasionally, changes will be made to software that will require users to make changes to their configuration files in order to use the latest release. For example, when ensemble post-processing was added to Gen-Ens-Prod and removed from Ensemble-Stat, users were required to make changes in their configuration files.

Note

This section is not always applicable.

To alert the users to the necessary steps involved with the upgrade:

  • Update the Upgrade Instructions section of the release-notes.rst file found in the MET User’s Guide directory with the necessary information.

  • Add an “upgrade instructions” link next to the appropriate METplus component (MET) after “latest” and before “development” in the METplus Components Release Note Links section in the release-notes.rst file in the METplus User’s Guide in the METplus GitHub repository ONLY if there are Upgrade Instructions for this release.

2.3.8. Merge Release Issue

  • After updating the release-specific content on a release feature branch, submit a pull request to merge those changes back into the source branch.

2.3.9. Create Release on GitHub

  • Go to Releases on GitHub and click ‘Draft a new release’

  • Set the tag based on the version, starting with ‘v’, i.e. vX.Y.Z-betaN, vX.Y.Z-rcN, or vX.Y.Z

  • Set the branch value to ‘develop’ for a development release or ‘main_vX.Y’ for a bugfix or official release

  • Choose a release name (i.e. MET-X.Y.Z-betaN, MET-X.Y.Z-rcN, or MET-X.Y.Z)

  • Add a link to the release notes from the MET User’s Guide, i.e. https://MET.readthedocs.io/en/vX.Y.Z-betaN/Users_Guide/release-notes.html (Note: the URL will not be active until the release is created) Refer to a previous release to easily copy and modify this information.

  • Add links to the HTML and PDF versions of the MET User’s Guide on ReadTheDocs. https://MET.readthedocs.io/_/downloads/en/vX.Y.Z-betaN/pdf/ (Note: the URL will not be active until the release is created) Refer to a previous release to easily copy and modify this information.

  • If this is a development release, check the box that says “This is a pre-release”

  • Click on “Publish release”.

2.3.10. Update DTC Website

  • Navigate to https://dtcenter.org and sign in to the Drupal interface.

  • Navigate to the downloads page for the MET repository at https://dtcenter.org/community-code/metplus/download

  • Click on the Edit button to edit the Downloads page.

  • Create a new Software Release for the newly released version by clicking on Add New Release.

    • For Full Title of Release type “MET Version X.Y.Z”.

    • For Related Community Code select both the METplus and the MET options (For Macs, hold the Command key to select both).

    • For Version Label type “MET X.Y.Z-betaN”.

    • Select the release type (Recommended for official or bugfix releases or Development for development versions).

    • Enter the release date.

    • Click on Add Code Download then click Add Link to add links for each of the following:

      • Add Link: Link text should be the file name of the tar file and the URL should be the .tar.gz file created in the “Attach Release Tarfile” step.

      • Add Link: Link text should be “User’s Guide” and the URL should be the top level directory of the User’s Guide hosted on the web. Beta releases can use “develop” in the URL, but for official releases, please ensure the link uses the branch name (e.g. main_vX.Y) as opposed to the tag name (e.g. vX.Y.Z). For example, use “https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/main_vX.Y/Users_Guide/” and NOT “https://metplus.readthedocs.io/en/vX.Y.Z/Users_Guide/”

      • Add Link: Link text should be “Existing Builds and Docker” and the URL should be the latest Existing Builds page, i.e. https://dtcenter.org/community-code/metplus/metplus-X-Y-existing-builds (If creating a new official release, be sure to add a new Existing Builds and Docker page, if one was not already created.)

    • Inside the text box in the “Release Notes” section provide a direct link to the release-notes.html file in the User’s Guide.

    • Click on “Create Release”.

    • Update the existing releases, as needed.

      • For a development release, ensure the “Release Type” is set to Development and change any previous Development versions to Other.

      • For a bugfix or official release, change any previous Recommended versions to Other.

      • For an official release, remove the corresponding development releases.

    • Create or edit the “Coordinated METplus Version X.Y” software release.

      • For an official release, create the “Coordinated METplus Version X.Y” release entry if it doesn’t already exist. Ensure the “Release Type” is set to Recommended. Consider changing the “Release Type” of previous coordinated releases from Recommended to Other. Add links for the MET X.Y.Z, the METplus “Documentation”, the METplus “Existing Builds and Docker” page, and the “Release Notes”. Make the Release Notes a link to the MET Release Notes.

      • For a bugfix release, update the existing link and text in the “Coordinated METplus Version X.Y” release section with the X.Y.Z+1 information.

    • Make any other necessary website updates. For example, the flowchart at https://dtcenter.org/community-code/model-evaluation-tools-met/system-architecture.

    • Click on “Save”.

2.3.11. Finalize Release on GitHub

  • Close the GitHub issue for creating this development release.

  • Edit the date of the development cycle for the current release to indicate the actual release date.

  • Review the remaining development cycles, and if neccessary, adjust dates and/or add new cycles.

  • If necessary, reassign any remaining issues for the current development cycle to the next one.