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Gradle GitHub Actions release process#

Preparation#

  • Push any outstanding changes to branch main.
  • Check that https://github.com/gradle/actions/actions is green for all workflows for the main branch.
    • This should include any workflows triggered by [bot] Update dist directory
  • Decide on the version number to use for the release. The action releases should follow semantic versioning.
    • By default, a patch release is assumed (eg. 4.0.0 → 4.0.1)
    • If new features have been added, bump the minor version (eg 4.1.1 → 4.2.0)
    • If a new major release is required, bump the major version (eg 4.1.1 → 5.0.0)
    • Note: The gradle actions follow the GitHub Actions convention of including a .0 patch number for the first release of a minor version, unlike the Gradle convention which omits the trailing .0.

Release gradle/actions#

  • Create a tag for the release. The tag should have the format v4.1.0
    • From CLI: git tag v4.1.0 && git push --tags
  • Go to https://github.com/gradle/actions/releases and "Draft new release"
    • Use the newly created tag and copy the tag name exactly as the release title.
    • Craft release notes content based on issues closed, PRs merged and commits
    • Include a Full changelog link in the format https://github.com/gradle/actions/compare/v2.12.0...v3.0.0
  • Publish the release.
  • Force push the v4 tag (or current major version) to point to the new release. It is conventional for users to bind to a major release version using this tag.
    • From CLI: git tag -f -a -m "v4.0.0" v4 v4.0.0 && git push -f --tags
    • Note that we set the commit message for the tag to the newly released version.

Post release steps#

Submit PRs to update the GitHub starter workflow. Starter workflows contain content that should reference the Git hash of the current gradle/actions release: https://github.com/actions/starter-workflows has gradle and gradle-publish: see the v4.0.0 update PR for an example.

Submit PRs to update the GitHub documentation. The documentation contains content that should reference the Git hash of the current gradle/actions release: https://github.com/github/docs has building-and-testing-java-with-gradle and publishing-java-packages-with-gradle : see the v4.0.0 update PR for an example.