daml/release/RELEASE.md
Gary Verhaegen 1658b3b31a
try to improve release docs (#13422)
Specifically, try to slightly reorganize it in terms of what people are
trying to achieve, rather than what type of release they ultimatly need
to create.

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2022-03-25 18:02:51 +01:00

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Making a Release

Valid commits for a release should come from either the main branch or one of the support release/a.b.x branches (e.g. release/1.0.x branch is for patches we backport to the 1.0 release branch).

Important

: If the release fails, please delete it from the releases page and write how it failed on the PR.

First, you need to know which type of release you are making. At this point in time, these are the options, in rough order of likelihood/frequency:

  1. The weekly snapshot.
  2. A release candidate for a 2.x release.
  3. A stable 2.x release.
  4. A release candidate for a 1.x release.
  5. A stable 1.x release.

If you don't know which of these your current case fits in, or you think it doesn't fit in any, please reach out on #team-daml on Slack, preferably mentioning @gary.

The weekly snapshot

Note: You should not have to make any change to this repo.

  1. Open a PR on the assembly repo using the most recent Canton snapshot. See the instructions in the README of the assembly repo for details.

  2. Merge the PR and wait for the corresponding main build to finish.

  3. Go to the Testing section of this file.

2.x release candidate

In a perfect world, there is no need for a separate RC: the latest weekly snapshot can work. In the world we live in, though, we frequently want to add a few things, or patch previous minor rleases.

In those cases, we create release/ branches (e.g. release/2.0.x). Those are special branches, protected by GitHub rules and treated specially by CI.

When making a release candidate, you generally want to pick the tip of one of those release branches. The release itself is always triggered from main.

The process is similar to the weekly snapshot, except that both the daml and canton bundles have to be manually triggered. Specifically:

  1. Make sure all the changes you want are in the release branch.
  2. Start from latest main and run
    $ ./release.sh snapshot origin/release/2.0.x 2.0.1
    
    The output will be a line that starts with a commit sha, followed by a snapshot release number. You need to take that line and add it to the [ LATEST] file, adding SPLIT_RELEASE` at the end of that line. You should put that line in the file so as to preserve semver ordering, and overwrite any existing snapshot with the same prefix.
  3. Make a PR against the main branch with just that one line added, touching no other file. Add the Standard-Change label to that PR.
  4. When the PR is merged, the build of the corresponding commit on main will create a "split release" bundle and push it to Artifactory. It should notify on #ci-failures-daml on Slack.
  5. The next step is to request a build from the Canton team (on #team-canton) that relies on the RC snapshot. Once you have a canton release, you can proceed.
  6. Go to the assembly repo, and follow the instructions there to make a release using the Canton version that was just created. The LATEST file on the assembly repo only contains one version; it is safe to overwrite it, and to "go backwards" if needed.
  7. Once the main build of the assembly repo has finished, you should proceed with testing. You should open up this document in the branch of the release you're making, as testing instructions change over time.
  8. After testing, if everything went well, you should go on to turning the RC into a stable release. If something went wrong, make appropriate changes to the release branch and start over.

Stable 2.x

Making a stable release follows the same steps as a snapshot RC, except that:

  • You should not be choosing an arbitrary commit, you should pick the latest RC for the branch.
  • Go through the checklist before making the release. Note that the checklist is not available publicly.
  • Instead of adding a line to LATEST, remove the -snapshot part of the version number for the existing RC.
  • Similarly, modifying the LATEST file on the assembly repo should amount to just removing the - parts of the version numbers for both Canton and daml, but follow the instructions there.
  • You need a team lead to approve the PR on both the daml and assembly repos.

Once you have finished testing the release, coordinate with Product to decide how to communicate around it and when to remove the prerelease marker on the releases page. (This is what makes it available to daml install.)

1.x release candidate

  1. Make sure all the changes you want are in the release branch.
  2. Start from latest main and run
    $ ./release.sh snapshot origin/release/1.18.x 1.18.3
    
    The output will be a line that starts with a commit sha, followed by a snapshot release number. You need to take that line and add it to the LATEST file. You should put that line in the file so as to preserve semver ordering, and overwrite any existing snapshot with the same prefix.
  3. Make a PR against the main branch with just that one line added, touching no other file. Add the Standard-Change label to that PR.
  4. Once the PR has built, check that it was considered a release build by our CI. You can look at the output of the check_for_release job.
  5. When the PR is merged, the build of the main branch will create the release, push it to GitHub releases, and announce it is ready for testing on #team-daml.
  6. Follow the testing instructions in this document, but from the tip of the release branch.
  7. After testing, if everything went well, you should go on to turning the RC into a stable release. If something went wrong, make appropriate changes to the release branch and start over.

Stable 1.x

Making a stable release follows the same steps as a snapshot RC, except that:

  • You should not be choosing an arbitrary commit, you should pick the latest RC for the branch.
  • Go through the checklist before making the release. Note that the checklist is not available publicly. Since 1.x are old patch releases at this point, you may have to adapt the checklist a bit. Usee your best judgement; if we're making a patch release on 1.x at this point there should be a specific reason for it, which should suggest specific additional tests (e.g. a speecific bug we want to fix).
  • Instead of adding a line to LATEST, remove the -snapshot part of the version number for the existing RC.
  • You need a team lead to approve the PR.

Once you have finished testing the release, coordinate with Product to decide how to communicate around it and when to remove the prerelease marker on the releases page. (This is what makes it available to daml install.)

Testing

This testing procedure starts once the release is listed on the releases page.

  1. On Windows, install the new SDK using the installer on the releases page.

    On macOS/Linux:

    curl -sSL https://get.daml.com/ | sh -s "$VERSION"
    

    where $VERSION is the full version tag of the new release you are making, i.e. the second column of the LATEST file.

    Tips for Windows testing in an ad-hoc machine

    If you are part of the release rotation, you can create Windows VMs through the ad-hoc project. The created machine is a bit raw, though, so here are a few tips to help you along.

    ad-hoc.sh create windows prints IP address, username and password for the created Windows VM. Save this output. You will need this information later when you create an RDP connection.

    ‼️ After starting, it's going to take some time for the machine to be configured (see notes below).

    If you're on a Mac, you can use Microsoft Remote Desktop to connect; on Linux, you can use Remmina.

    Remmina notes: when creating an RDP connection, you may want to specify custom resolution. The default setting is to use client resolution. You may notice a failure due to color depth settings. You can adjust those in the settings panel right below the resolution settings.

    The ad-hoc machines take a bit of time to be available after being reported as created, so be patient for a bit if your first connection attempt(s) fail.

    NOTE 1: Use Firefox for testing. Windows machines come with both Internet Explorer and Firefox installed. Do not make the mistake of trying to use Internet Explorer.

    Ad-hoc machines also come with Node, VSCode and OpenJDK preinstalled, so you don't need to worry about those.

    NOTE 2: After logging in, it takes some time for the machine to be configured. The script that installs Firefox, Node, VSCode and OpenJDK runs once the machine is available for login. The software you need should appear within about 10 minutes. (An easy way to check is to try to open D:\ , as it is created after all the software is installed.)

    All of the commands mentioned in this document can be run from a simple DOS prompt (start menu -> type "cmd" -> click "Command prompt").

  2. Prerequisites for running the tests:

    • Visual Studio Code, Java-SDK
    • Node.js
      • Just the bare install; no need to build C dependencies.
      • create-daml-app doesn't work with the latest version 17.x of node.js. If you have nix installed, you can use a suitable version of nodejs by running nix-shell -p nodejs-14_x before running the npm commands below.
  3. Run daml version --assistant=yes and verify that the new version is selected as the assistant version and the default version for new projects.

  4. Tests for the getting started guide (macOS/Linux and Windows). Note: if using a remote Windows VM and an RDP client that supports copy/paste, you can run through this on both Windows and your local unix in parallel fairly easily.

    1. For these steps you will need the documentation for the release you are about to make. Documentation is published at every hour so if you wait for a bit you can go to https://docs.daml.com/$VERSION/getting-started/index.html. Otherwise, check out the commit that you are referencing in the LATEST file and build documentation locally via ./docs/scripts/preview.sh.

    2. daml new create-daml-app --template create-daml-app

    3. cd create-daml-app

      1. daml start
    4. In a new terminal, from the ui folder:

      1. npm install

      2. npm start

    5. Open two browser windows (you want to see them simultaneously ideally) at localhost:3000.

    6. Log in as alice in the first window, log in as bob in the second window.

    7. In the first window, where you are logged in as Alice, follow Bob by typing their name in the drop down (note that it will be Bob not bob, the former is the global alias, the latter is the participant-local username). Verify that Bob appears in the list of users Alice is following. Verify in the other browser window that Alice shows up in Bobs network.

    8. In the second window, where you are logged in as Bob, follow Alice by selecting it in the drop down. Verify that Alice appears in the list of users Bob is following. Verify in the other browser window that Bob shows up in Alices network.

    9. Open the your first feature section of the GSG, e.g., from https://docs.daml.com/$VERSION/getting-started/first-feature.html if you did not build docs locally.

    10. Run daml studio --replace=always from the project root directory and open User.daml.

    11. Copy the Message template from the documentation to the end of User.daml.

    12. Copy the SendMessage choice from the documentation to the User template below the Follow choice.

    13. Close VSCode.

    14. In the terminal where daml start is running, press 'r' respectively 'r' + 'Enter' on Windows.

    15. Run code . from the project root directory (the extension is already installed, no need to use daml studio).

    16. Create MessageList.tsx, MessageEdit.tsx and modify MainView.tsx as described in the documentation.

    17. Verify that you do not see errors in the typescript code in VSCode.

    18. Close VSCode.

    19. As before, open two browser windows at localhost:3000 and log in as alice and bob.

    20. Make Alice follow Bob.

    21. From Bob, select Alice in the Select a follower drop down, insert hi alice in the message field and click on Send.

    22. Verify that Alice has received the message in the other window.

    23. Make Bob follow Alice.

    24. From Alice, select Bob in the Select a follower drop down, insert hi bob in the message field and click on Send.

    25. Verify that Bob has received the message in the other window.

    26. You can now close both browser windows and both running processes (daml start and npm start).

    27. Don't forget to run this on the other platform! E.g. if you just ran through on Linux or macOS, you still need to run on Windows, and vice versa.

  5. Run through the following test plan on Windows. This is slightly shortened to make testing faster and since most issues are not platform specific.

    1. Run daml new myproject to create a new project and switch to it using cd myproject.
    2. Run daml start.
    3. Open your browser at http://localhost:7500, verify that you can login as alice and there is one contract, and that the template list contains Main:Asset among other templates.
    4. Kill daml start with Ctrl-C.
    5. Run daml studio --replace=always and open daml/Main.daml. Verify that the script result appears within 30 seconds.
    6. Add + at the end of line 26 after (PartyIdHint "Alice") and verify that you get an error on line 27.
  6. On your PR (the one that triggered the release process: on daml for 1.x releases, and on assembly for 2.x releases), add the comment:

    Manual tests passed on Windows.

  7. Tests for quickstart-java (Linux/macOS)

    While this is no longer the default getting started guide we still test it for now since it covers things not covered by the new GSG (Navigator, Scripts, Maven artifacts, …)

    1. Create a new project with daml new quickstart --template quickstart-java and switch to it using cd quickstart.

    2. Verify the new version is specified in daml.yaml as the sdk-version.

    3. Run daml start. Your browser should be opened automatically at http://localhost:7500. Login as alice and verify that there is 1 contract, and that the templates list contains Iou:Iou, Iou:IouTransfer, and IouTrade:IouTrade among other templates.

    4. Close the tab and kill daml start using Ctrl-C.

    5. Run daml build.

    6. In 3 separate terminals, run:

      1. daml sandbox --port 6865

      2. Each of the following:

        1. daml ledger upload-dar --host localhost --port 6865 .daml/dist/quickstart-0.0.1.dar

        2. daml script --ledger-host localhost --ledger-port 6865 --dar .daml/dist/quickstart-0.0.1.dar --script-name Main:initialize --output-file output.json

        3. cat output.json and verify that the output looks like this:

          ["Alice::NAMESPACE", "EUR_Bank::NAMESPACE"]
          

          where NAMESPACE is some randomly generated series of hex digits.

        4. daml navigator server localhost 6865 --port 7500

      3. daml codegen java && mvn compile exec:java@run-quickstart -Dparty=$(cat output.json | sed 's/\[\"//' | sed 's/".*//')

        Note that this step scrapes the Alice::NAMESPACE party name from the output.json produced in the previous steps.

        Note: It takes some time (typically around half-an-hour) for our artifacts to be available on Maven Central. If you try running the last command before the artifacts are available, you will get a "not found" error. Trying to build again in the next 24 hours will result in:

        Failure to find ... was cached in the local repository, resolution will not be reattempted until the update interval of digitalasset-releases has elapsed or updates are forced
        

        This is Maven telling you it has locally cached that "not found" result and will consider it valid for 24h. To bypass that and force Maven to try the network call again, add a -U option, as in mvn compile exec:java@run-quickstart -U. Note that this is required to bypass your local cache of the failure; it will not be required for a user trying to run the quickstart after the artifacts have been published.

        Another common problem is that artifacts fail to resolve because of custom Maven settings. Check your ~/.m2/settings.xml configuration and try disabling them temporarily.

    7. Point your browser to http://localhost:7500, login as alice and verify that there is 1 contract, 1 owned IOU, and the templates list contains Iou:Iou, Iou:IouTransfer, and IouTrade:IouTrade among other templates.

    8. Check that curl http://localhost:8080/iou returns:

      {"0":{"issuer":"EUR_Bank::NAMESPACE","owner":"Alice::NAMESPACE","currency":"EUR","amount":100.0000000000,"observers":[]}}
      

      where NAMESPACE is again the series of hex digits that you saw before.

    9. Kill all processes.

    10. Run daml studio --replace=always. This should open VSCode and trigger the Daml extension that's bundled with the new SDK version. (The new VSCode extension will not be in the marketplace at this point.)

    11. Open daml/Main.daml.

    12. Click on Script results above initialize and wait for the script results to appear.

    13. Add + at the end of line 14, after (PartyIdHint "Alice") and confirm you get an error in line 15.

    14. Add 1 after the + and confirm you get a type error in line 14, which says that Script Party does not match Int.

    15. Delete the +1 and the e in the second "Alice" and verify that the script results are updated to the misspelled name.

    16. Right click on eurBank in line 28 and verify that "Go to Definition" takes you to the definition in line 17.

    17. Close all files.

    Note: when running daml studio --replace=always, you force the installation of the VSCode extension bundled with the Daml SDK, and disable the autoupgrade mechanism in VSCode. To instruct VSCode to go back to the published version of the extension, including auto-upgrades, you can run daml studio --replace=published.

  8. On your PR (the one that triggered the release process: on daml for 1.x releases, and on assembly for 2.x releases), add the comment:

    Manual tests passed on [Linux/macOS].

    specifying which platform you tested on.

  9. If the release is bad, delete the release from the releases page. Mention why it is bad as a comment on your PR, and stop the process here.

    Note that the Standard-Change label must remain on the PR, even if the release has failed.

  10. Announce the release on #product-daml on Slack. For a stable release, direct people to the release blog post; for a prerelease, you can include the raw output of the unreleased.sh script in a thread after the announcement. If there were any errors during testing, but we decided to keep the release anyway, report those on the PR and include a link to the PR in the announcement.

For a stable release, you need to additionally:

  1. Go to the releases page and remove the prerelease marker on the release. Also change the text to See [the release notes blog]() for details. adding in the direct link to this version's release notes. Documentation for this release will be added to docs.daml.com on the next hour.

  2. Coordinate with product (& marketing) for the relevant public announcements (Daml Forum, Twitter, etc.).

  3. Documentation is published automatically once the release is public on GitHub, though this runs on an hourly cron.

Thanks for making a release!