This document describes the process for releasing a new version of PDAL.

1. If it is a major release, make a release branch. Any changes you make to facilitate the release should be made in the release branch.

   git checkout -b 2.9-maintenance
   git push -u origin 2.9-maintenance
   

   • Update the STABLE_BRANCH pointer in the GitHub variables at https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/settings/variables/actions

   Do not create a new maintenance branch for a minor release. Simply tag a new version off of the -maintenance branch in that case.

2. Set version numbers. The only place you need to set the PDAL version number is in the project() function of CMakeLists.txt.

   • CMakeLists.txt

     project(PDAL VERSION 2.9.0 LANGUAGES CXX C)
     

   • Update library version in CMakeLists.txt. Note that if there is no breaking ABI change (unlikely), you can just update the minor.

     set(PDAL_SOLIB_MAJOR 15)
     set(PDAL_SOLIB_MINOR 0)
     set(PDAL_SOLIB_BUILD 0)
     

   • Update _config.yml release_date to today's date

   • Update _config.yml version to full version number (ie, 2.9.0)

   • Update doc/download.rst past release pointer with last release date/version

   • Update the STABLE_BRANCH pointer in the GitHub variables at https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/settings/variables/actions

   • Update CITATION.cff with release date and version information

3. Ensure CI is ✅

4. If you have time, download or build the latest released Clang and GCC and fix any bugs or warnings that show up. Run the tests. If you're really brave, do the same thing with MSVC. Fix all warnings/problems.

5. Tag the release and push the tag to GitHub. If the tag name is x.x.x, a draft release will be pushed to https://github.com/PDAL/PDAL/releases

   git tag 2.9.0
   git push origin 2.9.0
   

6. Write and update the draft release notes.. The safest way to do this is to go though all the commits since the last release and reference any changes worthy of the release notes. See previous release notes for a template and a starting point. If you find issues after making the release branch, add them to the release notes.

7. Update Conda package

   • For PDAL releases that bump minor version number, but do not change dependencies or build configurations, the [regro-cf-autotick-bot]{.title-ref} should automatically create a pull request at https://github.com/conda-forge/libpdal-feedstock. Once the builds succeed, the PR can be merged and the updated package will soon be available in the [conda-forge]{.title-ref} channel.

   • For major releases, once the Conda Forge machinery has built and pushed the package, a pinning migration like conda-forge/conda-forge-pinning-feedstock#6396 must be created.

   • Updates that alter the build configuration but do not bump the version number should be submitted as PRs from a fork of the https://github.com/conda-forge/libpdal-feedstock repository. In these cases, the build number should be incremented.

8. [Optional] Update Alpine package

   • The PDAL Alpine package lives at https://github.com/alpinelinux/aports/blob/master/testing/pdal/APKBUILD. Pull requests can be made against the alpinelinux/aports repository. If the build configuration alone is changing, with no version increase, simply increment the build number [pkgrel]{.title-ref}. If the [pkgver]{.title-ref} is changing, then reset [pkgrel]{.title-ref} to 0. Pull requests should have a commit message of the following form [testing/pdal: <description>]{.title-ref}.