Merge branch 'master' into app-protocol-env

README.md

@@ -742,7 +742,9 @@ See the [Reference Guide](https://docs.dapr.io/reference/cli/) for more informat
 ## Contributing to Dapr CLI
 
 See the [Development Guide](https://github.com/dapr/cli/blob/master/docs/development/development.md) to get started with building and developing.
+## Release process for Dapr CLI
 
+See the [Release Guide](https://github.com/dapr/cli/blob/master/docs/development/release.md) for complete release process for Dapr CLI.
 ## Code of Conduct
 
 Please refer to our [Dapr Community Code of Conduct](https://github.com/dapr/community/blob/master/CODE-OF-CONDUCT.md)

docs/development/release.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+
+# Release Guide
+
+This document describes how to release Dapr CLI along with associated artifacts.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+Only the repository maintainers and release team are allowed to execute the below steps.
+
+## Pre-release build
+
+Pre-release build will be built from `release-<major>.<minor>` branch and versioned by git version tag suffix e.g. `-rc.0`, `-rc.1`, etc. This build is not released to users who use the latest stable version.
+**Pre-release process**
+1. Create a PR to update the `Dapr runtime` and `Dapr dashboard` pre-release versions in workflow and tests files wherever applicable, and merge the PR to master branch. For example, please take a look at this PR - https://github.com/dapr/cli/pull/1019. Please note that this PR is just for reference and only reflects the absolute minimum number of file changes. These versions update could lead to some other changes also.
+
+2. Create branch `release-<major>.<minor>` from master and push the branch. e.g. `release-1.11`. You can use the github web UI to create the branch or use the following command.
+
+```sh
+$ git checkout master && git reset --hard upstream/master && git pull upstream master
+$ git checkout -b release-1.11
+$ git push upstream release-1.11
+```
+3. Add pre-release version tag (with suffix -rc.0 e.g. v1.11.0-rc.0) and push the tag.
+
+```sh
+$ git tag "v1.11.0-rc.0" -m "v1.11.0-rc.0"
+$ git push upstream v1.11.0-rc.0
+
+```
+4. CI creates the new build artifacts.
+5. Test and validate the functionalities with the specific version.
+6. If there are regressions and bugs, fix them in release-* branch. e.g `release-1.11` branch.
+7. Create new pre-release version tag (with suffix -rc.1, -rc.2, etc).
+8. Repeat from 5 to 7 until all bugs are fixed.
+
+
+## Release the stable version to users
+
+> **Note**: Make sure stable versions of `dapr runtime` and `dapr dashboard` are released before releasing the CLI and update their references in workflow and tests files wherever applicable.
+
+Once all bugs are fixed, stable version can be released. Create a new git version tag (without the suffix -rc.x e.g. v1.11.0) and push the tag. CI will create the new build artifacts and release them.
+
+## Release Patch version
+
+Work on the existing `release-<major>.<minor>` branch to release a patch version. Once all bugs are fixed, create a new patch version tag, such as `v1.11.1-rc.0`. After verifying the fixes on this pre-release, create a new git version tag such as `v1.11.1` and push the tag. CI will create the new build artifacts and release them.