docs: add a release process document

Based on the previous two releases, create a document that outlines
how to perform release in the future. The content may need to change
as sambacc changes but this serves as a foundation for future
improvements.

Signed-off-by: John Mulligan <[email protected]>

Author: phlogistonjohn

docs/release-process.md

@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+# sambacc Release Process
+
+## Preparation
+
+Currently there is no dedicated branch for releases. sambacc is simple enough,
+has few dependencies, and we're not planning on doing backports. Therefore
+we apply release tags to the master branch.
+
+```
+git checkout master
+git pull --ff-only
+git tag -a -m 'Release v0.3' v0.3
+```
+
+This creates an annotated tag. Release tags must be annotated tags.
+
+Perform a final check that all supported OSes build. You can
+follow the commands below, which are based on the github workflows at the
+time this document was written:
+
+```
+podman build --build-arg=SAMBACC_BASE_IMAGE=quay.io/centos/centos:stream9 -t sambacc:temp-centos9 tests/container/ -f tests/container/Containerfile
+podman build --build-arg=SAMBACC_BASE_IMAGE=registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:37 -t sambacc:temp-fc37 tests/container/ -f tests/container/Containerfile
+podman build --build-arg=SAMBACC_BASE_IMAGE=registry.fedoraproject.org/fedora:38 -t sambacc:temp-fc38 tests/container/ -f tests/container/Containerfile
+
+# name the last part after the release version
+mybuild=$PWD/_builds/v03
+mkdir -p $mybuild
+# perform a combined test & build, that stores build artifacts under $mybuild/$SAMBACC_DISTNAME
+podman run -v $PWD:/var/tmp/build/sambacc -v $mybuild:/srv/dist -e SAMBACC_DISTNAME=centos9 sambacc:temp-centos9
+podman run -v $PWD:/var/tmp/build/sambacc -v $mybuild:/srv/dist -e SAMBACC_DISTNAME=fc37 sambacc:temp-fc37
+podman run -v $PWD:/var/tmp/build/sambacc -v $mybuild:/srv/dist -e SAMBACC_DISTNAME=fc38 sambacc:temp-fc38
+
+# view build results
+ls -lR $mybuild
+```
+
+Modify the set of base OSes to match what is supported by the release. Check
+that the logs show that tag version was correctly picked up by the build.
+The python and rpm packages should indicate the new release version and not
+include an "unreleased git version".
+
+For at least one build, select a set of files that includes the source tarball,
+the Python Wheel (.whl file), and a source RPM. Create or alter an existing
+sha512sums file containing the sha512 hashes of these files.
+
+
+## GitHub Release
+
+When you are satisfied that the tagged version is suitable for release, you
+can push the tag to the public repo:
+```
+git push --follow-tags
+```
+
+Manually trigger a COPR build. Confirm that new COPR build contains the correct
+version number and doesn't include an "unreleased git version".
+You will need to have a fedora account and the ability to trigger builds
+for `phlogistonjohn/sambacc`.
+
+Draft a new set of release notes. Select the recently pushed tag. Start with
+the auto-generated release notes from github (activate the `Generate release
+notes` button/link). Add an introductory section (see previous notes for an
+example). Add a "Highlights" section if there are any notable features or fixes
+in the release. The Highlights section can be skipped if the content of the
+release is unremarkable (e.g. few changes occurred since the previous release).
+
+Attach the source tarball, the Python Wheel, and one SRPM from the earlier
+build(s), along with the sha512sums file to the release.
+
+Perform a final round of reviews, as needed, for the release notes and then
+publish the release.
+
+
+## PyPI
+
+There is a sambacc repository on PyPI. This exists mainly to reserve the
+sambacc name, however we desire to keep it up to date too.
+You will need to have a PyPI account and access to the sambacc repo.
+
+Log into PyPI web UI. (Re)Generate a pypi login token for sambacc.
+Ensure `twine` is installed:
+```
+python3 -m pip install --upgrade twine
+```
+
+Create a directory to store the python build artifacts:
+```
+rm -rf _build/pypi
+mkdir -p _build/pypi
+cp sambacc-0.3.tar.gz sambacc-0.3-py3-none-any.whl _build/pypi
+```
+Upload the files to PyPI creating a new release:
+```
+python3 -m twine upload _build/pypi/*
+# Supply a username of `__token__` and the password will be the value
+of the token you acquiried above.
+```
+
+A new release like `https://pypi.org/project/sambacc/0.3/` should have become
+available.