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 current 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 met/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 Issues page to see what has changed for this release. Open the following URL in a browser:

https://github.com/dtcenter/MET/issues

• Click on the Projects tab and select the project (under Repository) that corresponds to the release you are creating.

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

• 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. Merge Release Issue

• After updating the version number and release notes on a release feature branch, submit a pull request to merge those changes back into the source branch.

2.3.8. 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

• Attach a PDF of the MET User’s Guide, if available

2.3.9. Attach Release Tarfile

• The MET software is distributed as a tarfile, but not the one created by GitHub. On a project machine (e.g. kiowa), clone the MET repository and run a script to build the tarfile for the newly tagged release.

git clone https://github.com/dtcenter/MET
MET/scripts/build/met_checkout_and_build.sh tag vX.Y.Z

• Edit the vX.Y.Z release on GitHub by uploading the resulting tar file (met-X.Y.Z.YYYYMMDD.tar.gz) as a release asset.

2.3.10. Update DTC Website

• Navigate to the downloads page for the MET repository at www.dtcenter.org.

• Sign in to the Drupal interface and 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 (use shift to select).

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

  • Select the release type (Recommended for official or bugfix releases or Development for development versions). If necessary, change previously Recommended versions to Other.

  • 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.

    • 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-4-0-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”.

  • Click on “Save”.

2.3.11. Finalize Release on GitHub

• Close the GitHub issue for creating this development release.

• Edit the development project name for the current release to indicate the actual release date.

• Review the remaining development projects, and if neccessary, add new ones.

• If necessary, reassign any remaining issues from the current development project to the next one.

• Close the development project for the current release.