v18.0.0 Release Process

[PastaPastaPasta]

v18.0.0 Release Process

Note: see #4211 for planned date of release

• Update translations, see translation_process.md. translations: Add final v18 updates for ar, de and zh_CN #4962
• Update manpages, see gen-manpages.sh. doc: Update man pages for v18 #4963
• enable DEPLOYMENT_DIP0024 Mainnet nStartTime and nTimeout (set to Aug 15) chore: enable DIP0024 hard fork on mainnet #4968

Before every minor and major release:

• Update bips.md to account for changes since the last release (@thephez).
• Update version in configure.ac (don't forget to set CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE to true) (chore: set _CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE to true, drop RC #4959)
• Write release notes for v18 #4837
• Update src/chainparams.cpp nMinimumChainWork with information from the getblockchaininfo rpc. chore: bump nMinimumChainWork, defaultAssumeValid and m_assumed_blockchain_size for mainnet and testnet #4960
• Update src/chainparams.cpp defaultAssumeValid with information from the getblockhash rpc. chore: bump nMinimumChainWork, defaultAssumeValid and m_assumed_blockchain_size for mainnet and testnet #4960
• This update should be reviewed with a reindex-chainstate with assumevalid=0 to catch any defect that causes rejection of blocks in the past history.
• Ensure that sentinel is not affected by any changes, and no changes to sentinel are required. #4948

Before every major release:

• Update hardcoded seeds. #4949
• Update BLOCK_CHAIN_SIZE to the current size plus some overhead. chore: bump nMinimumChainWork, defaultAssumeValid and m_assumed_blockchain_size for mainnet and testnet #4960
• Update src/chainparams.cpp chainTxData with statistics about the transaction count and rate. Use the output of the RPC getchaintxstats, see this pull request for an example. Reviewers can verify the results by running getchaintxstats <window_block_count> <window_last_block_hash> with the window_block_count and window_last_block_hash from your output. chore: bump ChainTxData for mainnet and testnet #4961
• Update version of contrib/gitian-descriptors/*.yml: usually one'd want to do this on master after branching off the release - but be sure to at least do it before a new major release

Tag the Release

• Tag v18.0.0 and push

Check CI

• Validate that CI passes

Do Gitian Build (for unsigned binaries) and create PRs

• Pasta Gitian Build
• Udjin Gitian Build
• Thephez Gitian Build
• Kittywhiskers Gitian Build
• Knst Gitian Build

Create Windows/OS X detached signatures (note: it might be decided skip signed binaries for RCs)
Only once the Windows/OS X builds each have 3 matching signatures may they be signed with their respective release keys.

• Pasta creates windows detached signature and commits
• pasta/quantum creates OS X detached signature

Update Gitian Builds with signed binaries (note: it might be decided skip signed binaries for RCs)

• Pasta Gitian Build
• Udjin Gitian Build
• Thephez Gitian Build
• Kittywhiskers Gitian Build
• Knst Gitian Build

After 3 or more people have gitian-built and their results match:

• Create SHA256SUMS.asc for the builds
• GPG sign each download / binary
• Upload zips and installers, as well as SHA256SUMS.asc from last step, to github as github draft release.
• Validate SHA256SUMS.asc and all binaries attached to github draft release are correct
• Notarize OS X binaries
• Release on github once dash.org is updated
• Release Sentinel 1.7.0 on GitHub
• Ensure that docker files are up to date

Announce the release:

• Release on Dash forum: https://www.dash.org/forum/topic/official-announcements.54/
• Optionally Discord, twitter, reddit /r/Dashpay, ... but this will usually sort out itself
• Celebrate

After the release

• Submit patches to BTCPay to ensure they use latest / compatible version see Release Schedule for v18.0.0 #4211 (comment)

[thephez]

@PastaPastaPasta bips.md was updated by #4780 in April. I don't see any changes since then that included new BIPs.

[thephez]

The last step was done by strophy in these PRs: btcpayserver/btcpayserver-docker#700 and btcpayserver/dockerfile-deps#49

[strophy]

For future releases, please add a few web/comms tasks to the release checklist:

• Prepare release blog post (necessary so we have a permalink to use on twitter, reddit, etc.)
• Prepare product brief (major versions only?)
• Prepare a release announcement tweet
• Follow-up tweets with any important block heights for consensus changes
• Update website download links
• Post on reddit
• Update docs (readme and RTD)
• Update sigs on website and verify

[strophy]

A few more items:

• Test Docker build runs without errors in Dashmate
• Verify sentinel works
• Verify insight works
• Verify p2pool works