2 minute read

Over the course of the last week, I released a handful of Nextcloud app updates. This process is similar for all my maintained apps, so I have developed a workflow which I’d like to document here.

Assumptions

This workflow assumes that

  • You are about to release version x.y.z.
  • Code is hosted on GitHub.
  • GitHub milestones are used to assign issues and pull requests to (upcoming) releases.
  • Krankerl is used for packaging the app.

Release Preparation

  • Make sure all changes (issues and pull request) are correctly assigned to the target release milestone x.y.z.

Release Pull Request

  • Make sure local master branch is up-to-date.
  • Create release/x.y.z branch.
    • The version x.y.z is typically determined by the type of change, following semver.
  • Update version number.
    • Update appinfo/info.xml.
    • Update package.json¹.
    • Run npm install¹ (to update package-lock.json)
    • Commit the changes (e.g. with Version bump)
  • Update the changelog
    • Tip: go through the milestone’s PRs and issues
    • Tip: go through the commits with git log PREVIOUS_VERSION_TAG..HEAD --pretty=oneline | grep -v tx-robot | grep -v "Merge " | grep -v "Bump "
      • This filters out l10n updates, merges and Dependabot updates.
    • Commit the changes (e.g. with Update changelog for x.y.z).
  • Push release/x.y.z branch to GitHub
  • Open a new pull request
    • Assign this pull request to the x.y.z milestone and close it.
    • Assign/@mention reviewers and await their feedback.
    • Put pull request on hold if new bugs/regressions are found and pull in the changes after they have been integrated.
    • Merge after positive review.
  • Update local master branch.
  • Create git tag vx.y.z.
  • Publish app archive.
    • Build package with krankerl package.
    • Push tag to GitHub.
    • Create new GitHub release.
    • Upload app tarball to the GitHub release.
  • Publish app on App Store.
    • Copy asset URL from the GitHub release.
    • Run krankerl publish URL.

¹ Skip if npm is not in use.

Follow-Up

  • Create a milestone for the next release.

Markdown Checklist

Here is a condensed checklist to be used as overview in the release pull request’s description.

[Release checklist](https://blog.wuc.me/2018/08/14/nextcloud-app-release-process.html):
- [ ] Created release branch.
- [ ] Updated version number.
  - [ ] Updated `appinfo/info.xml`.
  - [ ] Updated `package.json` and ran `npm install`.
- [ ] Updated the changelog.
- [ ] Created release tag.
- [ ] Pushed tag to GitHub.
- [ ] Built package with `krankerl package`.
- [ ] Created new GitHub release.
- [ ] Published app on App Store.

Conclusion

These steps are simple but I sometimes forget to do some of them (e.g. running npm install after changing package.json). This process has shown to work well with the apps I maintain. The workflow fits well for both collaboratively developed apps as well as ones where I am the only developer (without peer reviews).

Since this post serves as documentation for myself, I plan on updating the details if any of the steps are changed.


Update 2018-08-24:

  • Removed dangling footnote from markdown checklist
  • Added reference to this post to markdown checklist

Update 2018-10-08:

  • Simplified markdown checklist