Merge pull request #556 from input-output-hk/team/500/adr_release_process

ADR of the release process

Author: ghubertpalo

docs/adr/003-release/img/release_process.jpg

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+---
+slug: 3
+title: |
+  3. Release process and versioning
+authors:
+- name: Mithril Team
+tags: [Draft]
+---
+
+## Status
+
+**draft**
+
+## Context
+
+In order to deliver regularly the software to our users, we should implement a release process based on a predictable versioning scheme. 
+
+### Versioning
+
+A Release Version determines a distribution of determined node versions and underlying libraries.
+
+ * Our softwares must be able to interact seamlessly with other Mithril software.
+ * Our softwares must be able to be hosted on crates.io.
+ * Our softwares must clearly indicate compatibility with other Mithril components to end users.
+ 
+
+### Release process
+
+A Release is a software package that is built once and then promoted from the testing environment to the production environment. It can be signed.
+
+ * Keep it simple.
+ * Automated as much as possible: all points not requiring human decision shall be automated.
+ * Minimize the mean time to release.
+
+## Decision
+
+There are 3 versioned layers in the Mithril stack:
+
+ * HTTP API protocol to ensure compatibility in the communication between nodes (use Semver).
+ * Crate version: each node & library has its own version (use Semver). The commit digest is automatically added to the version by the CI pipeline.
+ * Release Version: the distribution version (use version scheme **YYWW.patch** | **YYWW.patch-name**). The VERSION file is computed by the pipeline from the tag release.
+
+The documentation is tied to a Release Version.
+
+### Release Process
+
+Starting just after a new release has been made:
+
+1. Develop on a dedicated development branch.
+1. When merging PR on main: update the `Cargo.toml` files with version of the updated nodes.
+1. Once merged, the CI creates an `unstable` tag & release which is deployed on testing environment.
+1. Push a tag using the distribution version format on this commit with a `-prerelease` suffix.
+1. The CI gets the built artifacts associated with this commit and generates a named pre-release which is deployed on `pre-release` for testing.
+1. Push a tag using the distribution version format on this commit without the `-prerelease` suffix.
+1. The CI gets the built artifacts associated with this commit and generates a named release which is deployed on `pre-release` for testing.
+1. In the release GitHub interface, edit the newly generated release, uncheck the `This is a pre-release` checkbox.
+1. The CI gets the built artifacts associated with this commit and generates a named release which is deployed on `release`.
+1. Create a commit:
+   1. to promote the documentation website from future to current.
+   1. to update the SQL schema with alterations from the previous release.
+
+[![Release Process](./img/release_process.jpg)](./img/release_process.jpg)
+
+### Hotfix Release
+​
+In case of a blocking issue (following a distribution release) on the release environment that requires an immediate fix:
+​
+1. Create a branch on the last release tag with the following scheme: **hotfix/{last_distribution-version}.{last_patch_number + 1}**.
+1. Development of the fix is done on this branch.
+1. After each commit on this branch, the CI creates an `unstable` tag & release which is not deployed on testing environment (testing must be done on an ad hoc environment manually created).
+1. Push a tag on the branch last commit using the branch distribution version with a `-hotfix` suffix.
+1. The CI gets the built artifacts associated with this commit and generates a named pre-release which is deployed on `pre-release` for testing.
+1. In the release GitHub interface, edit the newly generated release, uncheck the `This is a pre-release` checkbox.
+1. The CI gets the built artifacts associated with this commit and generates a named release which is deployed on `release`.
+1. Merge the hotfix branch on main branch (and adapt the changes if they are not compatible with the current main branch).
+