Expand on RELEASE-PROCESS.md

Author: mpontillo

RELEASE-PROCESS.md

@@ -1,16 +1,89 @@
 # Rough release process
 
-0. Update `CHANGES` & commit!
-1. `export VERSION=2...`
-2. `sed -i -e "/^AC_INIT/s,\[.*\],[$VERSION],g" configure.ac`
-3. `git commit -s -m "Release ${VERSION}" configure.ac`
-4. `git tag -s v${VERSION} -m "$VERSION"`
-5. `docker rmi radvd-autogen:latest`
-6. `./autogen-container.sh`
-7. `./configure`
-8. `make packages`
-9. `gh release create v${VERSION} radvd-${VERSION}.tar.{xz,gz}{,.asc,.sha256,.sha512}`
-
-
-## Tools
-https://cli.github.com/
+## Update `CHANGES`
+
+Go through `git log` and ensure that each relevant change is documented in
+the `CHANGES file.
+
+## Ensure version consistency
+
+The version identifier needs to be consistent amongst the `CHANGES` file, the
+`configure.ac` file, and the git tag. First, determine the currently-configured
+version identifier, such as by running:
+
+```
+grep AC_INIT configure.ac | cut -d[ -f 2 | cut -d] -f 1
+grep Release CHANGES | head -1
+```
+
+When preparing a release candidate build, the version string should end with
+`_rcN`, where N is the candidate build number.
+
+Conventionally, the `CHANGES` file will contain a string in the format
+`v<version>`, such as `v2.20_rc1` or `v2.20`, while the git tag and
+`configure.ac` file will contain a string in the format `<version>`, such as
+`2.20_rc1` or `2.20.`
+
+Edit the `CHANGES` file and note the new version identifier.
+
+## Update `configure.ac`
+
+After manually updating the `CHANGES` file, update the `configure.ac` file
+with a matching version identifier, such as:
+
+```
+export VERSION="$(grep Release CHANGES | head -1 | sed s/'.*Release v'//g)"
+echo "New version identifier is: $VERSION"
+sed -i -e "/^AC_INIT/s,\[.*\],[$VERSION],g" configure.ac
+```
+
+## Validate, commit, and tag
+
+Next, examine the changes to ensure accuracy:
+
+```
+git diff CHANGES configure.ac
+```
+
+If everything looks good, commit the changes and create the tag. Note that
+this will create a signed tag, so ensure that you have GPG configured
+appropriately.
+
+```
+git commit -s -m "Release ${VERSION}" CHANGES configure.ac
+git tag -s v${VERSION} -m "$VERSION"
+```
+
+## Build release archives
+
+### Clean up Docker environment
+
+To build the release archives, first delete the container manually to ensure
+the build works with a clean container (this command may fail if hte container
+does not exist):
+
+```
+docker rmi radvd-autogen:latest
+```
+
+### Perform a package build
+
+The `autogen-container.sh` script will run `autoreconf` in a clean environment.
+Afterward, the `./configure` script can be run in order to configure the build
+environment. Finally, `make packages` will create package archives suitable
+for release.
+
+```
+./autogen-container.sh
+./configure
+make packages
+```
+
+### Release the new version on GitHub
+
+To perform this step, first install and configure the
+[GitHub CLI](https://cli.github.com/).
+
+```
+gh release create v${VERSION} radvd-${VERSION}.tar.{xz,gz}{,.asc,.sha256,.sha512}`
+```