Release 3.12.0 retrospective

[pljones]

I went through the 3.12.0 release process and grabbed most of the points that hadn't been closed off for this, as a starting point. I've also added my comments in.

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• Assign this issue to the release shepherd who is in charge of managing this checklist.

We managed without one.

• Check if the list of translators in tools/create-translation-issues.sh. Make sure issue text is up-to-date. Add any URLs that will need localisation into the "New/Changed screenshots" section.

I'm not clear what the process is: even if it's through Weblate, I don't know enough about it.

• Check for conflicting accelerator keys (see tools/checkkeys.pl)

Postponed to fix post-release?

• Check for broken links

Maybe we can get a workflow that will do this? Build, deploy and start up the website in a container, then run the link check against it, taking down the website container when complete.

• Do a smoke test of the upgrade notification (do this very quickly)

Tried from 3.12.0rc1 and didn't get a notification. Tried again from 3.11.0 and did get the notification. Bug raised. (Yes, it does say

• Run the previous release (not an intermediate) build of GUI Client and Server

but we should still notify older intermediate releases).

• Upload the artifacts to SourceForge and set defaults.

Do we have any tracking of SourceForge traffic? (This hasn't been done yet.)

• Trigger the update notification by updating both Update Check Servers with the new version (@pljones for update02, email corrados for update01)

Well, I did update2 - I'll send an email as well.

• Update this template in https://jamulus.io/contribute/Release-Process with any improvements if needed.

I did a few as we went along. We probably should review it, though.

• Determine if a release retrospective is needed, create on Discussions if required

Hence this post.

[ann0see]

We took again way too long to release it.

I don't see 4.0.0 being any better though.

[pljones]

I was actually hoping to cut a 4.0.0alpha1 next weekend, with just the current working state of the Max mode in it.

[softins]

I was actually hoping to cut a 4.0.0alpha1 next weekend, with just the current working state of the Max mode in it.

I don't want us to do it in excessive haste. Although the raw audio appears to work well, there are one or two improvements I'd like a little time to make to it before it gets set in stone. And there are other things we could include at the same time.

[pljones]

And there are other things we could include at the same time.

If there are specific things on the board you think should be in, could you move them from Triage to Backlog for tracking.

[ann0see]

Broken links:

I did check it locally and it didn't give any issues. However I don't believe this. Likely there's a "recursive" flag that should be added to the docs.

[ann0see]

Moreover, the page does not build on my machine anymore. Needed a socket container to run it.

[ann0see]

Do we have any tracking of SourceForge traffic? (This hasn't been done yet.)

I believe sourceforge has a download counter.

As it should be automatically updated in 99% of the cases via webhook it should be fine. We may need to set the correct latest release though- especially as I deleted the first failed try SourceForge may have gotten confused. CC @gilgongo

[pljones]

I saw the release process instructions had been updated, so for me it's not an issue now. So long as it just works 😃 .

[ann0see]

Translation contributors

I'm not clear what the process is: even if it's through Weblate, I don't know enough about it.

It got way more difficult once we moved to weblate. We should have one responsible person for each language. And this person should be in the script and approve the respective PR.

I believe the script is outdated -> let translators re confirm their commitment. Otherwise remove them from the script and open an issue that the language is unsupervised.

[ann0see]

Checkkeys: Skimmed over it but didn't do an in depth check. As it's hard to find real clashes we may need to find a way to do this differently.

CC: @softins

[henkdegroot]

Hi guys, seems I missed the fact there was a new screenshot needed for the website, MIDI Control settings.
Adding the Dutch version here in case you still can/want to add.

[ann0see]

You can open a PR to the release branch and add it