Release Procedure ----------------- Our current policy for releasing is to aim for a bug-fix release every few weeks and a minor release every 2-3 months. The idea is to get fixes and new features out instead of trying to cram a ton of features into a release and by consequence taking a lot of time to make a new one. .. important:: pytest releases must be prepared on **Linux** because the docs and examples expect to be executed on that platform. #. Create a branch ``release-X.Y.Z`` with the version for the release. * **maintenance releases**: from ``4.6-maintenance``; * **patch releases**: from the latest ``master``; * **minor releases**: from the latest ``features``; then merge with the latest ``master``; Ensure your are in a clean work tree. #. Using ``tox``, generate docs, changelog, announcements:: $ tox -e release -- This will generate a commit with all the changes ready for pushing. #. Open a PR for this branch targeting ``master`` (or ``4.6-maintenance`` for maintenance releases). #. After all tests pass and the PR has been approved, publish to PyPI by pushing the tag:: git tag git push git@github.com:pytest-dev/pytest.git Wait for the deploy to complete, then make sure it is `available on PyPI `_. #. Merge the PR. #. If this is a maintenance release, cherry-pick the CHANGELOG / announce files to the ``master`` branch:: git fetch --all --prune git checkout origin/master -b cherry-pick-maintenance-release git cherry-pick --no-commit -m1 origin/4.6-maintenance git checkout origin/master -- changelog git commit # no arguments #. Send an email announcement with the contents from:: doc/en/announce/release-.rst To the following mailing lists: * pytest-dev@python.org (all releases) * python-announce-list@python.org (all releases) * testing-in-python@lists.idyll.org (only major/minor releases) And announce it on `Twitter `_ with the ``#pytest`` hashtag.