New version release procedure

RELEASE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
+# Release procudure for a new version of CF
+
+
+## Update the revision history in file **history.adoc**
+
+  - Check that the history is up to date. Every non-trivial issue or merged pull request without an issue should be referenced.
+  - Replace the line _`=== Working version (most recent first)`_ with the line `=== Version <VN> (<DATE>)`, substituting `<VN>` with the release version and `<DATE>` with the current date (e.g. `Version 1.12 (04 December 2024)`).
+
+
+## Create the new documents
+
+Go to your fork of https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-conventions and create the new documents:
+```
+cd ~/cf-conventions
+export CF_FINAL=True
+make clean
+make all
+```
+
+
+## Copy the new documents to the website repository
+
+Go to your fork of https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-convention.github.io, create a new branch from "main", copy the new documents into this branch and submit the changes as a puull request back to https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-convention.github.io. The following is an example of how this may be done, but other git formulations are possible:
+
+```
+# In the following, substitute <VN> for the release version
+
+cd ~/cf-convention.github.io
+
+git checkout main
+
+# Make sure "main" is up to date
+git pull upstream main
+
+# Create new branch
+git checkout -b new-documents-for-<VN>
+
+# Copy the new files
+mkdir -p Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions-<VN>
+
+cp ~/cf-conventions/build/cf-conventions.html ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions--<VN>/cf-conventions.html
+
+cp ~/cf-conventions/build/cf-conventions.pdf ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions--<VN>/cf-conventions.pdf
+
+cp ~/cf-conventions/build/conformance.html ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance--<VN>.html
+
+cp ~/cf-conventions/build/conformance.pdf ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance-<VN>.pdf
+
+# Commit the new files and push them to your fork's remote repository
+git add ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions-<VN>/cf-conventions.html \
+        ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-conventions/cf-conventions-<VN>/cf-conventions.pdf \
+	~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance-<VN>.html \
+	~/cf-convention.github.io/Data/cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance-<VN>.pdf
+
+git commit -a -m "New files for version <VN>"
+
+git push origin HEAD
+
+# Now create the pull request, and merge it into ~/cf-convention.github.io
+```
+
+
+## Update version number related content on the website
+
+- In file **conventions.md**
+  - Add a new HTML entry for the new versions of the conventions documents
+  - Increment the draft version of the conventions documents.
+  - Remove the "latest released version" text from the previous latest release.
+  - Add a new HTML entry for the new versions of the conformance document
+  - Increment the draft version of the conformance documents to next version after the release.
+
+- In file **faq.md**
+  - Update CF version numbers to the release version.
+
+- In file **index.md**
+  - Update CF version numbers to the release version.
+
+- In file **software.md**
+  - Update CF version numbers to the release version.
+
+
+## Create a new GitHub release
+
+- Go to https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-conventions/releases
+
+- Follow the instructions at https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/automatically-generated-release-notes, with the following details:
+
+  - "Choose a tag" for the new version on the "main" branch: The tag should be called `v<VN>.0`, substituting `<VN>` with the release version (e.g. `v1.12.0`).
+  - Set the release title to `CF-<VN>`, substituting `<VN>` the release version (e.g. `CF-1.12`).
+  - Click "Generate release notes". This will automatically generate a description of the release.
+  - Edit the description to remove the list of contributors, instead adding any new people who have made substantive contributions to the list at http://cfconventions.org/conventions_contributors.html.
+  - Select "Set as the latest release".
+  - Select "Publish release".
+
+
+## Update file **CITATION.cff**
+
+- Update the _version:_ field with the new version.
+
+- Update the _doi:_ field in with the pre-reserved DOI.
+
+
+## Update file **.zenodo.json**
+
+- Update the _version_ field in with the new version.
+
+- Update the *publication_date*_ field in with the date.
+
+- Update the _files_ field with the new PDF file sizes and checksums. These must be the checksums of the actual files uploaded to https://github.com/cf-convention/cf-convention.github.io. MD5 checksums can be calculated with:
+
+  ```
+  # In the following, substitute <VN> for the release version
+
+  cd ~/cf-convention.github.io/Data
+  ls -o cf-conventions/cf-conventions-<VN>/cf-conventions.pdf
+  ls -o cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance-<VN>.pdf
+  mdsum --digest md5 cf-conventions/cf-conventions-<VN>/cf-conventions.pdf
+  mdsum --digest md5 cf-documents/requirements-recommendations/conformance-<VN>.pdf
+  ```
+
+# Post release
+
+After the release has been completed, make the following changes to re-ininstate the draft status of the conventions for the next version after the release:
+
+- In file **version.adoc**, change the value of the the _:version:_ field to be the next version after the release version (e.g. `1.13`)
+
+- In file **history.adoc**, insert a new heading at the top of the section: `=== Working version (most recent first)`