How to cut a Briefcase release¶

The release infrastructure for Briefcase is semi-automated, using GitHub Actions to formally publish releases.

This guide assumes that you have an upstream remote configured on your local clone of the Briefcase repository, pointing at the official repository. If all you have is a checkout of a personal fork of the Briefcase repository, you can configure that checkout by running:

$ git remote add upstream https://github.com/beeware/briefcase.git

The procedure for cutting a new release is as follows:

Check the contents of the upstream repository’s main branch:
```
$ git fetch upstream
$ git checkout --detach upstream/main
```
Check that the HEAD of release now matches upstream/main.
Ensure that the release notes are up to date. Run:
```
$ tox -e towncrier -- --draft
```
to review the release notes that will be included, and then:
```
$ tox -e towncrier
```
to generate the updated release notes.
Ensure that there is a version branch for the new Briefcase version every template that Briefcase will use at runtime:
- briefcase-template
- briefcase-macOS-app-template
- briefcase-macOS-Xcode-template
- briefcase-windows-app-template
- briefcase-windows-VisualStudio-template
- briefcase-linux-appimage-template
- briefcase-linux-flatpak-template
- briefcase-iOS-Xcode-template
- briefcase-android-gradle-template

Tag the release, and push the branch and tag upstream:

$ git tag v1.2.3
$ git push upstream main
$ git push upstream v1.2.3

Pushing the tag will start a workflow to create a draft release on GitHub. You can follow the progress of the workflow on GitHub; once the workflow completes, there should be a new draft release.
Log into ReadTheDocs, visit the Versions tab, and activate the new version. Ensure that the build completes; if there’s a problem, you may need to correct the build configuration, roll back and re-tag the release.
Edit the GitHub release. Add release notes (you can use the text generated by towncrier). Check the pre-release checkbox (if necessary).
Double check everything, then click Publish. This will trigger a publication workflow on GitHub.

9. Wait for the package to appear on PyPI.

Congratulations, you’ve just published a release!

If anything went wrong during steps 4-6, you will need to delete the draft release from GitHub, and push an updated tag. Once the release has successfully appeared on PyPI, it cannot be changed; if you spot a problem in a published package, you’ll need to tag a completely new release.