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When releasing a version, the most important information is whether this is a beta preview release or the final (majorstable) release of this major version (see Release types). Executing a release is done via our Continuous Integration system. We developed a special Jenkins plugin - Jenkins Release Publisher Plugin - to automatically create new versions in Jira, create the release notes, upload to GitHub Release and other things.
Releasing a preview version
Whether or not to release a new beta preview version, ask yourself the following questions. If you answer any (or all of them) with yes it might be a good time to release a beta preview version. We do not want to have a "must" clause for beta preview versions.
- Is the last release (beta preview or major) more than 4 month ago?
- Did we fix some major bugs that will address lots of users?
- Did we implement new features that will help users in lots of situations?
- Did we fix a bug or integrate a feature one specific project is asking for?
During the sprint review (describe) we discuss whether or not a preview version is released. If we see that none of the previous questions are answered with yes, we do not release a preview release.
- Describe how we use the sprints and how this is aligned with releasing preview versions and stable versions
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When releasing a beta preview version, the next version will keep the same major numbering, but the releasenumber will be increased by one (e.g. releasing 1.5.2 as beta preview release will create a new version 1.5.3)
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Releasing a major version, the next version will increase the major number by 1 and set the releasenumber to 1 0 (e.g. releasing 1.5.2 as major release will create a new version 1.6.10)