Nextcloud App Release Process

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.

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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