# Zulip server release checklist

This document has reminders of things one might forget to do when
preparing a new release.

### A week before the release

- _Major releases only (e.g., 4.0):_
  - Upgrade all Python dependencies in
    `requirements` to latest upstream versions so they can burn in (use
    `pip list --outdated`).
  - Upgrade all puppet dependencies in `puppet/deps.yaml`
  - Upgrade all puppet-installed dependencies (e.g., Smokescreen, go,
    etc) in `puppet/zulip/manifests/common.pp`
  - [Post a message to
    Weblate](https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/zulip/#announcement)
    inviting translators to translate new strings.
  - Prepare draft updates to the [changelog](../overview/changelog.md)
    with changes since the last release. The `/write-changelog` experimental
    Claude skill may be a better starting point than the original
    `git log --stat 12.x..upstream/main` marathon workflow.
  - Use updating the changelog and drafting the release blog post as review
    passes to identify:
    - Projects that require follow-up work.
    - Documentation that needs to be updated.
  - Update /features and other pages (e.g., /for/business) with major new
    features, and important changes to existing features.
  - Draft newsletter.
  - Draft email and social media announcements.
- Create a burn-down list of issues that need to be fixed before we can
  release, and make sure all of them are being worked on.
- Draft the release blog post (a.k.a. the release notes) in Paper. In
  it, list the important changes in the release, from most to least
  notable (or organized by category for major releases).
- Collect a list of folks who would like to be mentioned in the blog
  post for their non-code contributions during the release cycle. See
  [CZO thread for previous releases][non-code-contributions-topic].

### Final release preparation

- Update the Paper blog post draft with any new commits.
- Merge updated translations from Weblate (using the appropriate
  branch for the release).
- Send around the Paper blog post draft for review.
- Move the blog post draft to Astro:
  - Use "··· > Export > Markdown" to get a pretty good Markdown
    conversion, and save it in `src/posts` with a filename appropriate
    for a URL slug.
  - Add the needed YAML frontmatter.
  - Move any images into `public` and update their references.
  - Proofread, especially for formatting.
  - If the draft post should remain secret until release, avoid using
    a guessable Git branch name for the pull request (the deployment
    preview URL is based on the branch name).
- _Major releases only (e.g., 4.0):_ Schedule team members to provide
  extra responsive #production help support following the release.

### Executing the release

- Create the release commit, on `main` (for major releases) or on the
  release branch (for minor releases):
  - Copy the Markdown release notes for the release into
    `docs/overview/changelog.md`.
  - Verify the changelog passes lint, and has the right release date.
  - _Major releases only:_ Adjust the `changelog.md` heading to have
    the stable release series boilerplate.
  - Update `ZULIP_VERSION` and `LATEST_RELEASE_VERSION` in `version.py`.
  - _Major releases only:_ Update `API_FEATURE_LEVEL` to a feature
    level for the final release, and document a reserved range.
- Run `tools/release` with the release version.
- Update the [Docker image](https://github.com/zulip/docker-zulip):
  - Commit the Docker updates:
    - Update `ZULIP_GIT_REF` in `Dockerfile`
    - Update `README.md`
    - Update the image in `docker-compose.yml`, as well as the `ZULIP_GIT_REF`
  - Commit the Helm updates:
    - Add a new entry to `kubernetes/chart/zulip/CHANGELOG.md`
    - Update the `appVersion` in `kubernetes/chart/zulip/Chart.yaml`
    - Update the `tag` in `kubernetes/chart/zulip/values.yaml`
    - Update the docs by running `helm-docs`
    - Update the `image` in `kubernetes/manual/zulip-rc.yml`
  - Build the image: `docker build --pull . -t zulip/docker-zulip:4.11-0 --no-cache`
  - Also tag it with `latest`: `docker build . -t zulip/docker-zulip:latest`
  - Push those tags: `docker push zulip/docker-zulip:4.11-0; docker push zulip/docker-zulip:latest`
  - Push the commits to `main`.
- Merge the blog post PR.
- Announce the release, pointing to the blog post, via:
  - Email to [zulip-announce](https://groups.google.com/g/zulip-announce)
  - Email to [zulip-blog-announce](https://groups.google.com/a/zulip.com/g/zulip-blog-announce)
  - Message in [#announce](https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/1-announce)
  - Post from [@zulip.bsky.social](https://bsky.app/profile/zulip.bsky.social).
  - Toot from [fosstodon.org/@zulip](https://fosstodon.org/@zulip)
  - Post from [Kandra Labs LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/company/zulip-by-kandra-labs/)

### Post-release

- The DigitalOcean one-click image will report in an internal channel
  once it is built, and how to test it. Verify it, then publish it to
  DigitalOcean marketplace.
- _Major releases only:_
  - Create a release branch (e.g., `4.x`).
  - On the release branch, update `ZULIP_VERSION` in `version.py` to
    the present release with a `+git` suffix, e.g., `4.0+git`.
  - On `main`, update `ZULIP_VERSION` to the future major release with
    a `-dev+git` suffix, e.g., `5.0-dev+git`. Make a Git tag for this
    update commit with a `-dev` suffix, e.g., `5.0-dev`. Push the tag
    to both zulip.git and zulip-internal.git to get a correct version
    number for future Cloud deployments.
  - Add the new release to `.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/2_bug_report.md`.
  - Consider removing a few old releases from the issue template and
    ReadTheDocs; we keep about two years of back-versions.
  - Update Weblate to add a component on the release branch for
    Django; then add a parallel Frontend component by using "Duplicate
    this component" on the Django release branch component.
  - In Weblate, remove the previous stable components.
  - Add a new CI production upgrade target:
    - Build a docker image: `cd tools/ci && docker build --pull . -f Dockerfile.prod --build-arg=BASE_IMAGE=zulip/ci:bookworm --build-arg=VERSION=7.0 --tag=zulip/ci:bookworm-7.0 && docker push zulip/ci:bookworm-7.0`
    - Add a new line to the `production_upgrade` matrix in
      `.github/workflows/production-suite.yml`.
  - Update /history page in `templates/corporate/history.md`, adding the release
    and any other major news from the release cycle.
  - Inspect all `TODO/compatibility` comments for whether we can
    remove any backwards-compatibility code following this release.
  - Review possible improvements to API bindings to better match the
    defaults and features of the new release.
- _Minor releases only (e.g., 3.2):_
  - On the release branch, update `ZULIP_VERSION` to the present
    release with a `+git` suffix, e.g., `3.2+git`.
  - On main, update `LATEST_RELEASE_VERSION` with the released
    version, as well as the changelog changes from the release branch.
- _Prereleases only (e.g., 7.0-beta3):_
  - Atop the prerelease commit (e.g., `7.0-beta3`), make a commit
    updating `ZULIP_VERSION` to the prerelease version with a `+git`
    suffix, e.g., `7.0-beta3+git`. Push this to `main`. (If `main` has
    already diverged from the prerelease, a merge commit will be
    needed here.)
  - Delete the prerelease branch (e.g., `7.0-beta3-branch`); it's now
    an ancestor of `main` and thus unnecessary.

[non-code-contributions-topic]: https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/channel/1-announce/topic/recognition.20for.20non-code.20contributions/with/2443350