# Releasing

This document describes the process for releasing a new version of Electron.

## Determine which branch to release from

- **If releasing beta,** create a new branch from `master`.
- **If releasing a stable version,** create a new branch from the beta branch you're stabilizing.

## Find out what version change is needed
Run `npm run prepare-release -- --notesOnly` to view auto generated release
notes.  The notes generated should help you determine if this is a major, minor,
patch, or beta version change. Read the
[Version Change Rules](../tutorial/electron-versioning.md#version-change-rules) for more information.

## Run the prepare-release script
The prepare release script will do the following:
1. Check if a release is already in process and if so it will halt.
2. Create a release branch.
3. Bump the version number in several files.  See [this bump commit] for an example.
4. Create a draft release on GitHub with auto-generated release notes
5. Push the release branch so that the release builds get built.
Once you have determined which type of version change is needed, run the
`prepare-release` script with arguments according to your need:
- `[major|minor|patch|beta]` to increment one of the version numbers, or
- `--stable` to indicate this is a stable version

For example:

### Major version change
```sh
npm run prepare-release -- major
```
### Minor version change
```sh
npm run prepare-release -- minor
```
### Patch version change
```sh
npm run prepare-release -- patch
```
### Beta version change
```sh
npm run prepare-release -- beta
```
### Promote beta to stable
```sh
npm run prepare-release -- --stable
```

## Wait for builds :hourglass_flowing_sand:

The presence of the word [`Bump`](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/7961a97d7ddbed657c6c867cc8426e02c236c077/script/cibuild-linux#L3-L6) in the commit message created by the `bump-version` script
will [trigger the release process](https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/7961a97d7ddbed657c6c867cc8426e02c236c077/script/cibuild#L82-L96).

To monitor the build progress, see the following pages:

- [208.52.191.140:8080/view/All/builds](http://208.52.191.140:8080/view/All/builds) for Mac
- [circleci.com/gh/electron](https://circleci.com/gh/electron) for Linux
- [windows-ci.electronjs.org/project/AppVeyor/electron](https://windows-ci.electronjs.org/project/AppVeyor/electron) for Windows

## Compile release notes

Writing release notes is a good way to keep yourself busy while the builds are running.
For prior art, see existing releases on [the releases page].

Tips:
- Each listed item should reference a PR on electron/electron, not an issue, nor a PR from another repo like libcc.
- No need to use link markup when referencing PRs. Strings like `#123` will automatically be converted to links on github.com.
- To see the version of Chromium, V8, and Node in every version of Electron, visit [atom.io/download/electron/index.json](https://atom.io/download/electron/index.json).

### Patch releases

For a `patch` release, use the following format:

```
## Bug Fixes

* Fixed a cross-platform thing. #123

### Linux

* Fixed a Linux thing. #123

### macOS

* Fixed a macOS thing. #123

### Windows

* Fixed a Windows thing. #1234
```

### Minor releases

For a `minor` release, e.g. `1.8.0`, use this format:

```
## Upgrades

- Upgraded from Node `oldVersion` to `newVersion`. #123

## API Changes

* Changed a thing. #123

### Linux

* Changed a Linux thing. #123

### macOS

* Changed a macOS thing. #123

### Windows

* Changed a Windows thing. #123
```

### Major releases
```
## Upgrades

- Upgraded from Chromium `oldVersion` to `newVersion`. #123
- Upgraded from Node `oldVersion` to `newVersion`. #123

## Breaking API changes

* Changed a thing. #123

### Linux

* Changed a Linux thing. #123

### macOS

* Changed a macOS thing. #123

### Windows

* Changed a Windows thing. #123

## Other Changes

- Some other change. #123
```

### Beta releases
Use the same formats as the ones suggested above, but add the following note at the beginning of the changelog:
```
**Note:** This is a beta release and most likely will have have some instability and/or regressions.

Please file new issues for any bugs you find in it.

This release is published to [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/electron) under the `beta` tag and can be installed via `npm install electron@beta`.
```


## Edit the release draft

1. Visit [the releases page] and you'll see a new draft release with placeholder release notes.
1. Edit the release and add release notes.
1. Uncheck the `prerelease` checkbox if you're publishing a stable release; leave it checked for beta releases.
1. Click 'Save draft'. **Do not click 'Publish release'!**
1. Wait for all builds to pass before proceeding.
1. You can run `npm run release --validateRelease` to verify that all of the
required files have been created for the release.

## Merge temporary branch
Once the release builds have finished, merge the `release` branch back into
the source release branch using the `merge-release` script.
If the branch cannot be successfully merged back this script will automatically
rebase the `release` branch and push the changes which will trigger the release
builds again, which means you will need to wait for the release builds to run
again before proceeding.

### Merging back into master
```sh
npm run merge-release -- master
```

### Merging back into old release branch
```sh
npm run merge-release -- 1-7-x
```

## Publish the release

Once the merge has finished successfully, run the `release` script
via `npm run release` to finish the release process.  This script will do the
following:
1. Build the project to validate that the correct version number is being released.
2. Download the binaries and generate the node headers and the .lib linker used
on Windows by node-gyp to build native modules.
3. Create and upload the SHASUMS files stored on S3 for the node files.
4. Create and upload the SHASUMS256.txt file stored on the GitHub release.
5. Validate that all of the required files are present on GitHub and S3 and have
the correct checksums as specified in the SHASUMS files.
6. Publish the release on GitHub
7. Delete the `release` branch.

## Publish to npm

Once the publish is successful, run `npm run publish-to-npm` to publish to
release to npm.

[the releases page]: https://github.com/electron/electron/releases
[this bump commit]: https://github.com/electron/electron/commit/78ec1b8f89b3886b856377a1756a51617bc33f5a
[electron-versioning]: /docs/tutorial/electron-versioning.md

## Fix missing binaries of a release manually

In the case of a corrupted release with broken CI machines, we might have to
re-upload the binaries for an already published release.

The first step is to go to the
[Releases](https://github.com/electron/electron/releases) page and delete the
corrupted binaries with the `SHASUMS256.txt` checksum file.

Then manually create distributions for each platform and upload them:

```sh
# Checkout the version to re-upload.
git checkout vTHE.RELEASE.VERSION

# Do release build, specifying one target architecture.
./script/bootstrap.py --target_arch [arm|x64|ia32]
./script/build.py -c R
./script/create-dist.py

# Explicitly allow overwritting a published release.
./script/upload.py --overwrite
```

After re-uploading all distributions, publish again to upload the checksum
file:

```sh
npm run release
```
