Branching strategy selection, cumulative authoring, ++

docs/_docset.yml

@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ toc:
       - file: move.md
       - file: redirects.md
       - file: cumulative-docs.md
-      - file: deployment-models.md
+      - file: branching-strategy.md
       - file: add-repo.md
   - folder: migration
     children:
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ toc:
           - file: navigation.md
           - file: extensions.md
       - file: page.md
-      - file: deployment-models.md
+      - file: content-sources.md
   - folder: syntax
     children:
       - file: index.md

docs/configure/deployment-models.md → docs/configure/content-sources.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Content sources
 
-To support multiple deployment models for different repositories, we support the concept of a content source.
+To support multiple branching strategies for different repositories, we support the concept of a content source.
 
 Next
 :   The source for the upcoming documentation.
@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@ Our publish environments are connected to a single content source.
 | Staging             | `Current`      |
 | Edge                | `Next`         |
 
-This allows you as an owner of a repository to choose two different deployment models.
+This allows you as an owner of a repository to choose two different branching strategies.
 
-## Deployment models
+## Branching strategies
 
-The new documentation system supports 2 deployment models.
+The new documentation system supports 2 branching strategies.
 
-Continuous deployment. 
+Continuous deployment 
 :   This is the default where a repositories `main` or `master` branch is continuously deployed to production.
 
-Tagged deployment
+Tagged
 :   Allows you to 'tag' a single git reference (typically a branch) as `current` which will be used to deploy to production.
     Allowing you to control the timing of when new documentation should go live.
 
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ references:
 % TODO we need navigation.yml docs
 Once the repository is added, its navigation still needs to be injected into to global site navigation.
 
-### Tagged deployment
+### Tagged
 
 If you want to have more control over the timing of when your docs go live to production. Configure the repository
 in our `assembler.yml` to have a fixed git reference (typically a branch) deploy the `current` content source to production.
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ Our CI integration checks will block until `current` is successfully configured
 
 #### CI configuration
 
-To ensure [tagged deployments](#tagged-deployment) can be onboarded correctly, our CI integration needs to have appropriate `push`
+To ensure repositories that use the [tagged branching strategy](#tagged) can be onboarded correctly, our CI integration needs to have appropriate `push`
  branch triggers.
 
 ```yml

docs/contribute/_snippets/tag-processing.md

@@ -3,15 +3,19 @@
 Specifically for versioned products, badges will display differently when the `applies_to` key specifies a product version that has not been released to our customers yet.
 
 * `Planned` (if the lifecycle is preview, beta, or ga)
+
+  Example: {applies_to}`stack: ga 99.99`
 * `Deprecation planned` (if the lifecycle is deprecated)
+
+  Example: {applies_to}`stack: deprecated 99.99`
 * `Removal planned` (if the lifecycle is removed) 
 
-This is computed at build time (there is a docs build every 30 minutes). The documentation team tracks and maintains released versions for these products centrally.
+  Example: {applies_to}`stack: removed 99.99`
+
+This is computed at build time (there is a docs build every 30 minutes). The documentation team tracks and maintains released versions for these products centrally in [versions.yml](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/Elastic.Documentation.Configuration/versions.yml).
 
 When multiple lifecycle statuses and versions are specified in the sources, several badges are shown.
 
 :::{note}
 Visuals and wording in the output documentation are subject to changes and optimizations.
-:::
-
-% todo: link to central config
+:::

docs/contribute/_snippets/tagged-warning.md

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 :::{warning}
-Some repositories use a [tagged deployment model](/contribute/deployment-models.md), which means that their docs are published from a branch that is not `main` or `master`. In these cases, documentation changes need to be made to `main` or `master`, and then backported to the relevant branches.
+Some repositories use a [tagged branching strategy](/contribute/branching-strategy.md), which means that their docs are published from a branch that is not `main` or `master`. In these cases, documentation changes need to be made to `main` or `master`, and then backported to the relevant branches.
 
-For detailed backporting guidance, refer to the example in [Choose the docs deployment model for a repository](/contribute/deployment-models.md#workflow-2-tagged-deployment).
+For detailed backporting guidance, refer to the example in [Choose the docs branching strategy for a repository](/contribute/branching-strategy.md#workflow-2-tagged-deployment).
 
 To determine the published branches for a repository, find the repository in [assembler.yml](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/assembler.yml).
 :::

docs/contribute/add-repo.md

@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ references:
 ```
 
 :::{tip}
-In this file, you can optionally specify custom branches to deploy docs from, depending on your preferred [deployment model](deployment-models.md). You might want to change your deployment model so you can have more control over when content added for a specific release is published.
+In this file, you can optionally specify custom branches to deploy docs from, depending on your preferred [branching strategy](branching-strategy.md). You might want to change your branching strategy so you can have more control over when content added for a specific release is published.
 :::
 
 Then, edit the [navigation.yml](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/navigation.yml) file to add the repository to the navigation.

docs/contribute/deployment-models.md → docs/contribute/branching-strategy.md

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 ---
-navigation_title: Choose a deployment model
+navigation_title: Choose a branching strategy
 ---
 
-# Choose the docs deployment model for a repository
+# Choose the docs branching strategy for a repository
 
-With Docs V3 (elastic.co/docs), a single branch is published per repository. This branch is set to `main` (or `master`) by default. This is known as the continuous deployment model. However, it is possible to instead publish a different branch, also known as the tagged deployment model. 
+With Docs V3 (elastic.co/docs), a single branch is published per repository. This branch is set to `main` by default. This is known as the continuous deployment branching strategy. However, it is possible to instead publish a different branch, also known as the tagged branching strategy. 
 
-On this page, you'll learn how to choose the right deployment model for your repository, and how to change the deployment model. You'll also learn about the workflows for working in each deployment model.
+On this page, you'll learn how to choose the right branching strategy for your repository, and how to change the branching strategy. You'll also learn about the workflows for working with each branching strategy.
 
 ## Why is `main` the default publication branch?
 
@@ -23,40 +23,61 @@ Publishing from the main branch isn’t the best option for all repositories.
 * `main` can contain code and docs for unreleased versions that we don’t want to publish yet.  
 * The versioning scheme and release cadence of the product associated with a repository can vary, and it can be inconsistent to have the docs associated with a certain version live in a different branch than the code.
 
-If you choose this publication model for your repository AND that repository includes {{serverless-short}} or {{ecloud}} documentation, you will need to make sure that {{serverless-short}}- and {{ecloud}}-related changes are also backported to the `current` branch in order to be published on time.
+If you choose this publication model for your repository AND that repository includes {{serverless-short}} or {{ecloud}} documentation, you will need to make sure that {{serverless-short}}- and {{ecloud}}-related changes are also backported to the branch that is publishing to the public docs site.
 
-You **don't** need to change your deployment model to enable writing docs about future versions. Review the [continuous deployment workflow](#workflow-1-default-continuous-deployment) and [](cumulative-docs.md) to learn more.
+You **don't** need to change your branching strategy to enable writing docs about future versions. Review the [continuous deployment workflow](#workflow-1-default-continuous-deployment) and [](cumulative-docs.md) to learn more.
 
 Note that regardless of the publication branch that is set, the documentation must still flag all changes introduced so far since the last major release. This is NOT an alternative to [writing docs cumulatively](cumulative-docs.md).
 
 ## How to change the published branch
 
 Choosing to switch between publishing docs from `main` and publishing docs from a version branch is a long-term decision. This decision impacts all docs for an entire repository. Reach out to the docs team to discuss the change.
 
+For more information, refer to [](/configure/content-sources.md).
+
 After it has been established that a repository should publish from a version branch rather than `main`:
 
-1. In the [docs assembler file](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/assembler.yml):  
+1. [Add new triggers to the `docs-build` CI integration](/configure/content-sources.md#ci-configuration). Merge these changes to `main` or `master` and the intended version branches.
+2. Open a PR to trigger the CI integration and confirm that the docs build.
+3. Open a PR updating the [docs assembler file](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/assembler.yml):  
    * Specify which is the `current` branch for the repository. This branch is the branch from which docs are deployed to production at [elastic.co/docs](http://elastic.co/docs).  
    * Specify which is the `next` branch for the repository. The branch defined as `next` publishes docs internally to [staging-website.elastic.co/docs](http://staging-website.elastic.co/docs)  
      * Setting this branch to the next version branch in line is a good practice to preview docs change for an upcoming version.  
      * Otherwise, keeping it set to `main` is also an option since this is where the content is initially developed and merged. This is the default.
-2. [Add new triggers to the `docs-build` CI integration](/configure/deployment-models.md#ci-configuration).  
-3. Add an action as part of that repo’s release process for the release manager to update this same assembler file and bump the `current` branch with each release, as appropriate. The `next` branch also needs to be bumped if it is not set to `main`. 
-4. When these releases happen, create a PR against the [assembler file](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/assembler.yml) that defines the new `current` branch, to merge on release day.
+4. In the assembler PR, add the `ci` label. After CI runs, confirm that the intended version branches are publishing to the link service. When links are being published as intended, they can be found at the following URL, where `repo` is your repo name and `branch` is your newly configured branch:
+
+  ```text
+  elastic-docs-link-index.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/elastic/<repo>/<branch>/links.json
+  ```
+5. Rerun the `validate-assembler` check on the PR.
+6. After checks pass and the docs engineering team approves, you can merge the PR.
+
+After these steps are completed, the docs engineering team needs to release a new version of our build tool to complete the process. This process will be decoupled in a future release. After a new version is released, the switch is complete and the production documentation reflects the specified current branch.
+
+### Update the release process
+
+When you publish from specific version branches, you need to bump the version branch as part of the release process.
+
+Add an action as part of that repo’s release process for the release manager to update this same assembler file and bump the `current` branch with each release, as appropriate. The `next` branch also needs to be bumped if it is not set to `main`. 
+
+When these releases happen, create a PR against the [assembler file](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/tooling/docs-assembler/assembler.yml) that defines the new `current` branch, to merge on release day.
+
+:::{tip}
+Regardless of the branching strategy, you also need to update the current version in [versions.yml](https://github.com/elastic/docs-builder/blob/main/src/Elastic.Documentation.Configuration/versions.yml) as part of your release process. This version number is used in documentation variables and drives our [dynamic version badge logic](/contribute/cumulative-docs.md#how-do-these-tags-behave-in-the-output).
+:::
 
-For more information, refer to [](/configure/deployment-models.md).
 
 ## Workflow 1 (default): Continuous deployment
 
-Learn how to make updates in the continuous deployment model, where the repo is publishing docs from `main`.
+Learn how to make updates in the continuous deployment branching strategy, where the repo is publishing docs from `main`.
 
 ### Where to make docs changes [make-changes-cd]
 
 Initiate the changes by opening a PR against the `main` branch of the repo.
 
 ### How to write those changes [write-changes-cd]
 
-In our markdown-based documentation system, we [write docs cumulatively](cumulative-docs.md) regardless of the publication model selected.
+In elastic.co/docs (Docs V3), we [write docs cumulatively](cumulative-docs.md) regardless of the branching strategy selected.
 
 ### Merging and backporting [merge-backport-cd]
 
@@ -74,21 +95,17 @@ When a repo is publishing docs from its `main` branch, no backporting is needed.
 If you don’t want to hold on too many PRs to publish on release day, merge them to a feature branch, so you only have to merge this feature branch to `main` on release day.
 :::
 
-### More examples [more-examples-cd]
-
-We’ve prepared a few end-to-end examples to help in [Figma](https://www.figma.com/design/CZDl0szuGsQfJhFpnwJVWS/Applies_to-Docs-V3?node-id=0-1&p=f&t=lBPrvde0k5zg9U0E-0).  
+## Workflow 2: Tagged
 
-## Workflow 2: Tagged deployment
-
-Learn how to make updates in the continuous deployment model, where the repo is publishing docs from a specific `version` branch. 
+Learn how to make updates in the continuous deployment branching strategy, where the repo is publishing docs from a specific version branch. 
 
 ### Where to make docs changes [make-changes-td]
 
-Initiate the changes by opening a PR against the `main` branch of the repo. The changes will be backported to the relevant version branches as detailed below.
+Initiate the changes by opening a PR against the `main` branch of the repo, and backport the changes to the relevant version branches as detailed below.
 
 ### How to write those changes [write-changes-td]
 
-In our markdown-based documentation system, we [write docs cumulatively](cumulative-docs.md) regardless of the publication model selected.
+In elastic.co/docs (Docs V3), we [write docs cumulatively](cumulative-docs.md) regardless of the branching strategy selected.
 
 ### Merging and backporting [merge-backport-td]
 
@@ -117,7 +134,3 @@ For example, in a situation where 9.0, 9.1, and 9.2 are already released, and th
 :::{note}
 While you *can* backport to versions prior to the `current` version when applicable to maintain parity between the code and the docs on a given branch, that content will not be used in the current state of the docs.
 :::
-
-### More examples [more-examples-td]
-
-We’ve prepared a few end-to-end examples to help in [Figma](https://www.figma.com/design/CZDl0szuGsQfJhFpnwJVWS/Applies_to-Docs-V3?node-id=0-1&p=f&t=lBPrvde0k5zg9U0E-0).