Vector 0.52.0 release

[thomasqueirozb]

Setup and Automation

Note the preparation steps are now automated. First, alter/create release.env

#!/usr/bin/env bash
export NEW_VECTOR_VERSION=0.52.0 # replace this with the actual new version (e.g.: 0.50.0)
export NEW_VRL_VERSION=0.29.0 # replace this with the actual new VRL version (e.g.: 0.30.0)
export MINOR_VERSION=$(echo "$NEW_VECTOR_VERSION" | cut -d. -f2)
export PREP_BRANCH=prepare-v-"${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION//./-}"-website
export RELEASE_BRANCH=v0."${MINOR_VERSION}"

and then source it by running source ./release.env

The week before the release

1. Manual Steps

• Cut a new release of VRL if needed.
  • VRL release steps: https://github.com/vectordotdev/vrl/blob/main/release/README.md

2. Automated Steps

Run the following:

cargo vdev release prepare --version "${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION}" --vrl-version "${NEW_VRL_VERSION}"

Automated steps include:

• Create a new release branch from master to freeze commits
  • git fetch && git checkout origin/master && git checkout -b "${RELEASE_BRANCH}" && git push -u
• Create a new release preparation branch from master
  • git checkout -b "${PREP_BRANCH}" && git push -u
• Pin VRL to latest released version rather than main
• Check if there is a newer version of Alpine or Debian available to update the release images in
  distribution/docker/. Update if so.
• Run cargo vdev build release-cue to generate a new cue file for the release
  • Copy VRL changelogs from the VRL version in the last Vector release as a new changelog entry
    (example)
• Update version number in website/cue/reference/administration/interfaces/kubectl.cue
• Update version number in distribution/install.sh
• Add new version to website/cue/reference/versions.cue
• Create new release md file by copying an existing one in ./website/content/en/releases/ and
  updating version number
• Commit these changes
• Open PR against the release branch ("${RELEASE_BRANCH}") for review

3. Manual Steps

• Edit website/cue/reference/releases/"${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION}".cue
  • Add description key to the generated cue file with a description of the release (see
    previous releases for examples).
  • Ensure any breaking changes are highlighted in the release upgrade guide.
  • Ensure any deprecations are highlighted in the release upgrade guide.
  • Review generated changelog entries to ensure they are understandable to end-users.
  • Ensure the date matches the scheduled release date.
  • Add a link to pending deprecation items from DEPRECATIONS.md.
• PR review & approval.

On the day of release

• Make sure the release branch is in sync with origin/master and has only one squashed commit with all commits from the prepare branch. If you made a PR from the prepare branch into the release branch this should already be the case.

  • git checkout "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
  • git show --stat HEAD - This should show the squashed prepare commit.
  • Ensure release date in website/cue/reference/releases/0.XX.Y.cue matches current date.
    • If this needs to be updated commit and squash it in the release branch.
  • Follow these steps if the release branch needs to be updated
    • Rebase the release preparation branch on the release branch.
      • Squash the release preparation commits (but not the cherry-picked commits!) to a single
        commit. This makes it easier to cherry-pick to master after the release.
    • Merge release preparation branch into the release branch.
      • git switch "${RELEASE_BRANCH}" && git merge --ff-only "${PREP_BRANCH}"

• Tag new release

  • git tag v"${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION}" -a -m v"${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION}"
  • git push origin v"${NEW_VECTOR_VERSION}"

• Wait for release workflow to complete.

  • Discoverable via release.yml

• Reset the website branch to the HEAD of the release branch to update https://vector.dev

  • git switch website && git reset --hard origin/"${RELEASE_BRANCH}" && git push
  • Confirm that the release changelog was published to https://vector.dev/releases/
    • Refer to the internal releasing doc to monitor the deployment.

• Release Linux packages. Refer to the internal releasing doc.

• Release updated Helm chart. See releasing Helm chart.

• Create internal Docker images. Refer to the internal releasing doc.

• Create a new PR with title starting as chore(releasing):

  • Cherry-pick any release commits from the release branch that are not on master, to master.
  • Run cargo vdev build manifests and commit changes.
  • Bump the release number in the Cargo.toml on master to the next minor release.
  • Also, update Cargo.lock with: cargo update -p vector.
  • If there is a VRL version update, revert it and make it track the git main branch and then run cargo update -p vrl.

• Kick-off post-mortems for any regressions resolved by the release.