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========================
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Checkbox Release Process
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========================
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This page describes the necessary steps for releasing versions of Checkbox and
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Checkbox Certification to the stable PPA belonging to the Hardware
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Certification team, on a regular basis. Throughout this document the term
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'Checkbox' is used as a catch-all term to cover all versions of Checkbox owned
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by the Hardware Certification team, currently Checkbox itself and the Checkbox
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Certification extensions.
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Currently the process runs on a bi-weekly cadence, with a new release of
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Checkbox every two weeks. This covers ten working days, and the tasks carried
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out on each day or group of days is described below:
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* Days 1-4: Time allowed for new changes to be introduced into trunk.
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* Day 5: Changes are merged from the trunk of ``lp:checkbox`` and
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``lp:checkbox-certification`` to their respective release branches.
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The changelogs for both are *bumped* at this point and revisions are tagged.
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At this stage it may also be necessary to copy the package 'fwts' from the
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<https://launchpad.net/~firmware-testing-team/+archive/ppa-fwts-stable>`_
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to the `Checkbox Release Testing PPA
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<https://launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+archive/testing>`_.
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* Days 6-9: Testing is performed by the release manager for the Hardware
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Certification team, and a representative of the CE QA team (the main
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customer for Checkbox within Canonical)
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* Day 9: A release meeting is held between the release manager for the
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Hardware Certification team and the representative of the CE QA team.
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Potential issues with the release are identified and plans made to address
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* Day 10: The tested version of Checkbox is copied to the stable PPA.
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The release process requires separate branches in Launchpad containing a
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semi-frozen version of the code that was in trunk on day 5 of the process. This
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is so that development can continue on trunk without jeopardising the stability
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of the to-be released version of Checkbox. The relationship between all
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branches involved in the process is as shown below:
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* `lp:checkbox/release` <- `lp:checkbox`
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* `lp:checkbox-certification/release` <- `lp:checkbox-certification`
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* `lp:~checkbox-dev/checkbox/checkbox-packaging-release` <- `lp:~checkbox-dev/checkbox/checkbox-packaging`
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Auditing milestoned bugs
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========================
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Prior to creating the release candidate the release manager should review the
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list of bugs milestoned for the next release of Checkbox. They should visit
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`checkbox milestones <https://launchpad.net/checkbox/+milestones milestones>`_
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and locate the milestone dated with the release date.
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* For bugs that are set to In Progress with a branch associated - liase with
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the branch owner to see if the merge can be completed before the deadline.
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* For bugs that are in any other non-closed status (except *Fix Commited*) -
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re-milestone them to the following milestone.
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In order to cut the release, we have to merge the changes from trunk into the
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release branch, commit them with a suitable message and update the changelog in
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trunk so that future changes go under the correct version. For each combination
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of branches shown above, do the following (the example uses ``lp:checkbox`` and
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``lp:checkbox/release``)::
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bzr branch lp:checkbox/release checkbox-release
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bzr branch lp:checkbox checkbox-trunk
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current_stable=`head -n1 $(find . -name 'changelog') | grep -oP '(?<=\().*(?=\))'`
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at this point if no changes (other than one to ``debian/changelog``) get merged
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in then we do not perform a release of the package in question. In practice
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this often happens with ``checkbox-certification`` but never with
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bzr commit -m "Merged in changes from rev$(bzr revno -r tag:$current_stable lp:checkbox) to rev$(bzr revno lp:checkbox) from lp:checkbox"
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bzr push lp:checkbox/release
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cd `find . -name 'debian'`; cd ..
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bzr tag `head -n1 debian/changelog | grep -oP '(?<=\().*(?=\))'`
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dch -r (save modified changelog)
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dch -i -U 'Incremented changelog'
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The last step in the process is to perform a build of the packages in the
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``ppa:checkbox-dev/testing PPA``. To do this we need to go to the recipe pages
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for the ``checkbox`` and/or ``checkbox-certification`` release branches.
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* `checkbox-testing recipe
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<https://code.launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+recipe/checkbox-testing>`_
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* `checkbox-certification-testing recipe
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<https://code.launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+recipe/checkbox-certification-testing>`_
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The **Build Now** option should be available on the page. Click it to start a
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Copying Firmware Test Suite to the Testing PPA
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==============================================
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The Firmware Test Suite tool is a test tool for system firmware that is
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naturally heavily utilised by Checkbox. To make sure the latest version
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which contains fixes and new tests/features needed by Checkbox is available
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and also doesn't break anything in Checkbox, we need to release it alongside
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Checkbox. After cutting the release if the Firmware Testing team have notified
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that a new version is available and that this version should be used for
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certification, we need to copy it to the Testing PPA. To do this we need to go
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to the `Copy packages view of the Firmware Test Suite (Stable) PPA
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<https://launchpad.net/~firmware-testing-team/+archive/ppa-fwts-stable/+copy-packages>`_
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and select the 'fwts' packages for all releases back to Precise. We need to
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set the 'Destination PPA' as 'Checkbox Release Testing [~checkbox-dev/testing]'
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and the 'Copy options' field to 'Copy existing binaries', then click 'Copy
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packages'. This step then needs to be repeated but set the 'Destination PPA'
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field to 'PPA for Checkbox Developers [~checkbox-dev/ppa]'.
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Next Release of Checkbox e-mail
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===============================
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So that everyone has the opportunity to perform whatever testing is required in
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a timely manner, after the PPA builds have been completed an email should be
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sent to the following mailing lists:
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* `hardware-certification-team@lists.canonical.com <mailto:hardware-certification-team@lists.canonical.com>`_
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* `commercial-engineering@lists.canonical.com <mailto:commercial-engineering@lists.canonical.com>`_
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The content is typically something like this::
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Subject: Next Release of Checkbox (18/11/2013)
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The next release of Checkbox is available in the
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https://code.launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+archive/testing PPA.
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Please test it at your convenience. Checkbox is based on revision 2484 of
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lp:checkbox and Checkbox Certification is based on revision 586 of
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lp:checkbox-certification.
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If one or the other of Checkbox and Checkbox Certification have not been
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updated then there is no need to mention that package
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Now that the release has been cut, testing should take place prior to the
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release meeting. From the point of view of the certification team, what needs
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to be tested is ``checkbox-certification-client`` and
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``checkbox-certification-server`` which form the basis for CE QAs OEM specific
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versions of Checkbox. Checkbox certification server is tested in the CI loop
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Checkbox certification client needs to be tested manually.
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On the Thursday before the release is made, a meeting is held between a
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representative of the Certification team and a representative of the
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**Commercial Engineering QA** team. The meeting is held at 7:30 UTC as shown in
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this `calendar invite
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<https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/canonical.com/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=Y3QxcWVla3ViMTRvMXByOHZlOTFvc283Y2NfMjAxMzA4MjlUMDczMDAwWiBicmVuZGFuLmRvbmVnYW5AY2Fub25pY2FsLmNvbQ&tmsrc=brendan.donegan%40canonical.com>`_.
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An agenda for the meeting is included in the invite.
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Publishing the release
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======================
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To publish the release we simply need to copy a number of packages from the
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`Checkbox Release Testing PPA
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<https://launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+archive/testing>`_
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to the `Hardware Certification Public PPA
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<https://launchpad.net/~hardware-certification/+archive/public>`_. To do this
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we go to the `Copy packages view of the Checkbox Release Testing PPA
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<https://launchpad.net/~checkbox-dev/+archive/testing/+copy-packages>`_ and
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select all versions of the following list of packages: ``checkbox,
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checkbox-certification, fwts``. Make sure that the 'Destination PPA'
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field is set to 'Public PPA for Hardware Certification
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[~hardware-certification/public]' and that the 'Copy options' field is set to
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'Copy existing binaries', then click 'Copy Packages'.
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After that is done an announcement email should be sent to
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`commercial-engineering@lists.canonical.com <mailto:commercial-engineering@lists.canonical.com>`_.
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A template for the announcement in included below::
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A new release of checkbox has been uploaded to the Hardware
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Certification Public PPA
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(https://launchpad.net/~hardware-certification/+archive/public). The
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release is based on revision 2294 of lp:checkbox
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Please attach the most recent part of the changelog as release notes