code-server/docs/MAINTAINING.md

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# Maintaining

- [Workflow](#workflow)
  - [Milestones](#milestones)
  - [Triage](#triage)
  - [Project boards](#project-boards)
- [Versioning](#versioning)
- [Pull requests](#pull-requests)
  - [Merge strategies](#merge-strategies)
  - [Changelog](#changelog)
- [Releases](#releases)
  - [Publishing a release](#publishing-a-release)

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Current maintainers:

- @code-asher
- @oxy
- @jsjoeio

This document is meant to serve current and future maintainers of code-server,
as well as share our workflow for maintaining the project.

## Workflow

The workflow used by code-server maintainers aims to be easy to understood by
the community and easy enough for new maintainers to jump in and start
contributing on day one.

### Milestones

We operate mainly using
[milestones](https://github.com/cdr/code-server/milestones). This was heavily
inspired by our friends over at [vscode](https://github.com/microsoft/vscode).

Here are the milestones we use and how we use them:

- "Backlog" -> Work not yet planned for a specific release.
- "On Deck" -> Work under consideration for upcoming milestones.
- "Backlog Candidates" -> Work that is not yet accepted for the backlog. We wait
  for the community to weigh in.
- "<0.0.0>" -> Work to be done for a specific version.

With this flow, any un-assigned issues are essentially in triage state. Once
triaged, issues are either "Backlog" or "Backlog Candidates". They will
eventually move to "On Deck" (or be closed). Lastly, they will end up on a
version milestone where they will be worked on.

### Triage

We use the following process for triaging GitHub issues:

1. Create an issue
1. Add appropriate labels to the issue (including "needs-investigation" if we
   should look into it further)
1. Add the issue to a milestone
   1. If it should be fixed soon, add to version milestone or "On Deck"
   2. If not urgent, add to "Backlog"
   3. Otherwise, add to "Backlog Candidate" for future consideration

### Project boards

We use project boards for projects or goals that span multiple milestones.

Think of this as a place to put miscellaneous things (like testing, clean up
stuff, etc). As a maintainer, random tasks may come up here and there. The
project boards give you places to add temporary notes before opening a new
issue. Given that our release milestones function off of issues, we believe
tasks should have dedicated issues.

Project boards also give us a way to separate the issue triage from
bigger-picture, long-term work.

## Versioning

`<major.minor.patch>`

The code-server project follows traditional [semantic
versioning](https://semver.org/), with the objective of minimizing major changes
that break backward compatibility. We increment the patch level for all
releases, except when the upstream Visual Studio Code project increments its
minor version or we change the plugin API in a backward-compatible manner. In
those cases, we increment the minor version rather than the patch level.

## Pull requests

Ideally, every PR should fix an issue. If it doesn't, make sure it's associated
with a version milestone.

If a PR does fix an issue, don't add it to the version milestone. Otherwise, the
version milestone will have duplicate information: the issue and the PR fixing
the issue.

### Merge strategies

For most things, we recommend the **squash and merge** strategy. If you're
updating `lib/vscode`, we suggest using the **rebase and merge** strategy. There
may be times where **creating a merge commit** makes sense as well. Use your
best judgment. If you're unsure, you can always discuss in the PR with the team.

### Changelog

To save time when creating a new release for code-server, we keep a running
changelog at `CHANGELOG.md`.

If either the author or reviewer of a PR believes the change should be mentioned
in the changelog, then it should be added.

If there is not a **Next Version** when you modify `CHANGELOG.md`, please add it
using the template you see near the top of the changelog.

When writing your changelog item, ask yourself:

1. How do these changes affect code-server users?
2. What actions do they need to take (if any)?

If you need inspiration, we suggest looking at the [Emacs
changelog](https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/blob/master/etc/NEWS).

## Releases

With each release, we rotate the role of release manager to ensure every
maintainer goes through the process. This helps us keep documentation up-to-date
and encourages us to continually review and improve the flow.

If you're the current release manager, follow these steps:

1. Create a [release issue](../.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/release.md)
1. Fill out checklist
1. Publish the release
1. After release is published, close release milestone

### Publishing a release

1. Run `yarn release:prep` and type in the new version (e.g., `3.8.1`)
1. GitHub Actions will generate the `npm-package`, `release-packages` and
   `release-images` artifacts. You do not have to wait for this step to complete
   before proceeding.
1. Run `yarn release:github-draft` to create a GitHub draft release from the
   template with the updated version.
1. Summarize the major changes in the release notes and link to the relevant
   issues.
1. Change the @ to target the version branch. Example: `v3.9.0 @ Target: v3.9.0`
1. Wait for the `npm-package`, `release-packages` and `release-images` artifacts
   to build.
1. Run `yarn release:github-assets` to download the `release-packages` artifact.
   They will upload them to the draft release.
1. Run some basic sanity tests on one of the released packages (pay special
   attention to making sure the terminal works).
1. Publish the release and merge the PR. CI will automatically grab the
   artifacts, publish the NPM package from `npm-package`, and publish the Docker
   Hub image from `release-images`.
1. Update the AUR package. Instructions for updating the AUR package are at
   [cdr/code-server-aur](https://github.com/cdr/code-server-aur).
1. Wait for the npm package to be published.