github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/v3@v3.2.1/docs/developer-guide/releasing.md (about) 1 # Releasing 2 3 ## Introduction 4 5 Argo CD is released in a 2 step automated fashion using GitHub actions. The release process takes about 60 minutes, 6 sometimes a little less, depending on the performance of GitHub Actions runners. 7 8 The target release branch must already exist in the GitHub repository. If you for 9 example want to create a release `v2.7.0`, the corresponding release branch 10 `release-2.7` needs to exist, otherwise, the release cannot be built. Also, 11 the trigger tag should always be created in the release branch, checked out 12 in your local repository clone. 13 14 Before triggering the release automation, the `CHANGELOG.md` should be updated 15 with the latest information, and this change should be committed and pushed to 16 the GitHub repository to the release branch. Afterward, the automation can be 17 triggered. This will be automated in the very near future. 18 19 **Manual steps before release creation:** 20 21 * Update `CHANGELOG.md` with changes for this release 22 * Commit & push changes to `CHANGELOG.md` 23 * Update `goreleaser.yaml` with the updated blog post link in the `Release Notes Blog Post` section. 24 25 **The `Init ArgoCD Release` workflow will perform the following steps:** 26 27 * Update `VERSION` file in the release branch 28 * Update manifests with image tags of the new version in the release branch 29 * Create a pull request to submit the above changes 30 31 **The `Publish ArgoCD Release` workflow will perform the following steps:** 32 33 * Build, push, and signs the container image to Quay.io 34 * Generate a provenance for the container image 35 * Builds the CLI binaries, release-notes, and then creates a GitHub release and attaches the required assets. 36 * Generate a provenance for the CLI binaries 37 * Generate and sign a sbom 38 * Update the stable tag when applicable 39 * Update `VERSION` file in the master branch when a new release is GA 40 41 ## Steps 42 43 ### Step 1 - Update Version and Manifest 44 45 1. Ensure that the TARGET_BRANCH already exist. 46 2. Visit the [Release GitHub Action](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/actions/workflows/init-release.yaml) 47 and choose which branch you would like to work from. 48 3. Enter the TARGET_BRANCH to checkout. 49 4. Enter the TARGET_VERSION that will be used to build manifest and `VERSION` file. (e.g `2.7.0-rc1`) 50 51  52 53 When the action is completed a pull request will be generated that contains the updated manifest and `Version` file. 54 55 5. Merge the pull request and proceed to step 2. 56 57 ### Step 2 - Tag Release Branch 58 59 The steps below need to be executed by someone with write access in Argo CD upstream repo. 60 61 1. Checkout the release branch. Example: `git fetch upstream && git 62 checkout release-2.7` 63 2. Run the script found at `hack/trigger-release.sh` as follows: 64 65 ```shell 66 ./hack/trigger-release.sh <version> <remote name> 67 ``` 68 69 Example: 70 ```shell 71 ./hack/trigger-release.sh v2.7.2 upstream 72 ``` 73 74 !!! tip 75 The tag must be in one of the following formats to trigger the GH workflow:<br> 76 * GA: `v<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.<PATCH>`<br> 77 * Pre-release: `v<MAJOR>.<MINOR>.<PATCH>-rc<RC#>` 78 79 Once the script is executed successfully, a GitHub workflow will start 80 execution. You can follow its progress under the [Actions](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/actions/workflows/release.yaml) tab, the name of the action is `Publish ArgoCD Release`. 81 82 !!! warning 83 You cannot perform more than one release on the same release branch at the 84 same time. 85 86 ### Verifying automated release 87 88 After the automatic release creation has finished, you should perform manual 89 checks to see if the release came out correctly: 90 91 * Check status & output of the GitHub action 92 * Check [https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases](https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases) 93 to see if the release has been correctly created and if all required assets 94 are attached. 95 * Check whether the image has been published on Quay.io correctly 96 97 ### If something went wrong 98 99 If something went wrong, damage should be limited. Depending on the steps that 100 have been performed, you will need to manually clean up. 101 102 * If the container image has been pushed to Quay.io, delete it 103 * Delete the release (if created) from the `Releases` page on GitHub 104 105 ### Manual releasing 106 107 The release process does not allow a manual release process. Image signatures and provenance need to be created using GitHub Actions. 108 109 ## Notable files that involve the release process. 110 111 | File | Description | 112 |------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------| 113 |goreleaser.yaml |Config to build CLI binaries, checksums, release-notes | 114 |.github/workflows/image-reuse.yaml |Reusable workflow used to generate container images | 115 |.github/workflows/init-release.yaml |Used to generate manifest and `VERSION` file | 116 |.github/workflows/release.yaml |Build image, CLI binaries, provenances, sbom, post jobs | 117 |./hack/trigger-release.sh |Ensures all pre-requistes are met and pushes the tag |