Bitcoin Cash Node Release Process

Before Release

1. Check configuration

   • Check features planned for the release are implemented and documented (or more informally, that the Release Manager agrees it is feature complete)
   • Check that finished tasks / tickets are marked as resolved

2. Verify tests passed

   • Any known issues or limitations should be documented in release notes
   • Known bugs should have tickets
   • Run arc lint --everything and check there is no linter error
   • Ensure that bitcoind and bitcoin-qt run with no issue on all supported platforms. Manually test bitcoin-qt by sending some transactions and navigating through the menus.

3. Update the documents / code which needs to be updated every release

   • Check that release-notes.md is complete, and fill in any missing items.
   • Update bips.md to account for changes since the last release.
   • (major releases) Update BLOCK_CHAIN_SIZE to the current size plus some overhead.
   • Update seeds as per contrib/seeds/README.md.
   • Update src/chainparams.cpp m_assumed_blockchain_size and m_assumed_chain_state_size with the current size plus some overhead.

4. Add git tag for release a. Create the tag: git tag vM.m.r (M = major version, m = minor version, r = revision) b. Push the tag to GitLab:

   git push <gitlab remote> master
   git push <gitlab remote> vM.m.r
   

5. Increment version number for the next release in:

   • doc/release-notes.md (and copy existing one to versioned doc/release-notes/*.md)
   • configure.ac
   • CMakeLists.txt
   • contrib/seeds/makeseeds.py (only after a new major release)

Release

1. Create Gitian Builds (see gitian-building.md)

2. Verify matching Gitian Builds, gather signatures

3. Verify IBD bith with and without -checkpoints=0 -assumevalid=0

4. Upload Gitian Builds to bitcoincashnode.org

5. Create a release on our GitHub mirror: contrib/release/github-release.sh -a <path to release binaries> -t <release tag> -o <file containing your Github OAuth token>

6. Create Ubuntu PPA packages: Maintainers need to clone packaging and follow instructions to run debian-packaging.sh in that repository.

7. Notify maintainers of AUR and Docker images to build their packages. They should be given 1-day advance notice if possible.

After Release

1. Update version number on www.bitcoincashnode.org

2. Publish signed checksums (various places, e.g. blog, reddit, etc. etc.)

3. Announce Release:

   • Reddit
   • Twitter @bitcoincashnode
   • Public slack channels friendly to Bitcoin Cash Node announcements