Release Zebra 1.5.0

[arya2]

Motivation

TODO:

• Add change(log): Silence verbose failed connection logs change(log): Silence verbose failed connection logs #8072 and later commits on main to changelog
• Missed dependency updates (chore(deps): Missed dependency updates #8086)
• Check full sync test results (full sync & lightwalletd)

Close #7991

Prepare for the Release

• Make sure there has been at least one successful full sync test since the last state change, or start a manual full sync.
• Make sure the PRs with the new checkpoint hashes and missed dependencies are already merged.
  (See the release ticket checklist for details)

Summarise Release Changes

These steps can be done a few days before the release, in the same PR:

Change Log

Important: Any merge into main deletes any edits to the draft changelog.
Once you are ready to tag a release, copy the draft changelog into CHANGELOG.md.

We use the Release Drafter workflow to automatically create a draft changelog. We follow the Keep a Changelog format.

To create the final change log:

• Copy the latest draft changelog into CHANGELOG.md (there can be multiple draft releases)
• Delete any trivial changes
  • Put the list of deleted changelog entries in a PR comment to make reviewing easier
• Combine duplicate changes
• Edit change descriptions so they will make sense to Zebra users
• Check the category for each change
  • Prefer the "Fix" category if you're not sure

README

README updates can be skipped for urgent releases.

Update the README to:

• Remove any "Known Issues" that have been fixed since the last release.
• Update the "Build and Run Instructions" with any new dependencies.
  Check for changes in the Dockerfile since the last tag: git diff <previous-release-tag> docker/Dockerfile.
• If Zebra has started using newer Rust language features or standard library APIs, update the known working Rust version in the README, book, and Cargo.tomls

You can use a command like:

fastmod --fixed-strings '1.58' '1.65'

Create the Release PR

• Push the updated changelog and README into a new branch
  for example: bump-v1.0.0 - this needs to be different to the tag name
• Create a release PR by adding &template=release-checklist.md to the comparing url (Example).
• Freeze the batched queue using Mergify.
• Mark all the release PRs as Critical priority, so they go in the urgent Mergify queue.
• Mark all non-release PRs with do-not-merge, because Mergify checks approved PRs against every commit, even when a queue is frozen.

Update Versions and End of Support

Update Zebra Version

Choose a Release Level

Zebra follows semantic versioning. Semantic versions look like: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH[-TAG.PRE-RELEASE]

Choose a release level for zebrad. Release levels are based on user-visible changes from the changelog:

• Mainnet Network Upgrades are major releases
• significant new features or behaviour changes; changes to RPCs, command-line, or configs; and deprecations or removals are minor releases
• otherwise, it is a patch release

Zebra's Rust API doesn't have any support or stability guarantees, so we keep all the zebra-* and tower-* crates on a beta pre-release version.

Update Crate Versions

If you're publishing crates for the first time, log in to crates.io,
and make sure you're a member of owners group.

Check that the release will work:

• Update crate versions, commit the changes to the release branch, and do a release dry-run:

cargo release version --verbose --execute --allow-branch '*' --workspace --exclude zebrad beta
cargo release version --verbose --execute --allow-branch '*' --package zebrad patch # [ major | minor | patch ]
cargo release replace --verbose --execute --allow-branch '*' --package zebrad
cargo release commit --verbose --execute --allow-branch '*'

Crate publishing is automatically checked in CI using "dry run" mode.

Update End of Support

The end of support height is calculated from the current blockchain height:

• Find where the Zcash blockchain tip is now by using a Zcash explorer or other tool.
• Replace ESTIMATED_RELEASE_HEIGHT in end_of_support.rs with the height you estimate the release will be tagged.

Optional: calculate the release tagging height

• Add 1152 blocks for each day until the release
• For example, if the release is in 3 days, add 1152 * 3 to the current Mainnet block height

Update the Release PR

• Push the version increments and the release constants to the release branch.

Publish the Zebra Release

Create the GitHub Pre-Release

• Wait for all the release PRs to be merged
• Create a new release using the draft release as a base, by clicking the Edit icon in the draft release
• Set the tag name to the version tag,
  for example: v1.0.0
• Set the release to target the main branch
• Set the release title to Zebra followed by the version tag,
  for example: Zebra 1.0.0
• Replace the prepopulated draft changelog in the release description with the final changelog you created;
  starting just after the title ## [Zebra ... of the current version being released,
  and ending just before the title of the previous release.
• Mark the release as 'pre-release', until it has been built and tested
• Publish the pre-release to GitHub using "Publish Release"
• Delete all the draft releases from the list of releases

Test the Pre-Release

• Wait until the Docker binaries have been built on main, and the quick tests have passed:
  • ci-unit-tests-docker.yml
  • ci-integration-tests-gcp.yml
• Wait until the pre-release deployment machines have successfully launched

Publish Release

• Publish the release to GitHub by disabling 'pre-release', then clicking "Set as the latest release"

Publish Crates

• Run cargo login
• Run cargo clean in the zebra repo (optional)
• Publish the crates to crates.io: cargo release publish --verbose --workspace --execute
• Check that Zebra can be installed from crates.io:
  cargo install --locked --force --version 1.minor.patch zebrad && ~/.cargo/bin/zebrad
  and put the output in a comment on the PR.

Publish Docker Images

• Wait for the the Docker images to be published successfully.
• Un-freeze the batched queue using Mergify.
• Remove do-not-merge from the PRs you added it to

Release Failures

If building or running fails after tagging:

Tag a new release, following these instructions...

1. Fix the bug that caused the failure
2. Start a new patch release
3. Skip the Release Preparation, and start at the Release Changes step
4. Update CHANGELOG.md with details about the fix
5. Follow the release checklist for the new Zebra version

[arya2]

Trivial/Excluded:

• fix(ci): Skip GCP CI jobs on PRs from external contributors, let mergify test them after approval (#7956)
• fix(ci): Use correct check for external repositories (#8000)
• build(deps): bump the prod group with 7 updates (#7938)
• build(deps): Bump what we can from the production group (#7996)
• build(deps): bump the devops group with 1 update (#7948)
• build(deps): bump the devops group with 2 updates (#7925)
• build(deps): bump the prod group with 1 update (#7915)
• build(deps): bump the prod group with 3 updates (#8017)
• build(deps): bump the prod group with 7 updates (#7938)
• change(release): Only allow releases from the main branch, and update workflow names (#7917)
• cleanup(ci): Explicitly name workflow files that must be kept in sync (#7984)
• cleanup(clippy): Remove unnecessary try_into() with cargo clippy --fix (#7940)
• cleanup(net): Delete duplicate negotiated version code (#7912)
• cleanup(net): Deleted unused NeverAttemptedAlternate peer state (#7982)
• dependabot(change): Exclude hyper from production dependabot upgrades (#8010)
• doc(net): Document how outbound handshakes are rate-limited (#7976)
• docs(testing): Add a testnet forking tutorial (#7995)
• fix(ci): Skip GCP CI jobs on PRs from external contributors, let mergify test them after approval (#7956)
• fix(ci): Use correct check for external repositories (#8000)
• poc(scanner): add a populated state test for ZECpages viewing key (#7916)
• poc(scanner): get started with the blockchain scanner proof of concept (#7758)
• docs(fix): update the node version in debian install details (#7933)

[teor2345]

The checkpoint test failed due to #7123

[teor2345]

Just checking how we're going with:

• the missed dependency updates
• the full sync since the last (significant production) state change
• the changelog for the PRs merged since the initial draft

[arya2]

Just checking how we're going with:

• the missed dependency updates

It still needs the missed dependency updates

• the full sync since the last (significant production) state change

I started one manually yesterday that I can't seem to find now.

• the changelog for the PRs merged since the initial draft

It's currently missing the latest commit on main, added as a TODO.

[teor2345]

• the full sync since the last (significant production) state change

I started one manually yesterday that I can't seem to find now.

I add a comment with the job link to the ticket or PR, so I remember and reviewers can see it 🙂

Here's your manually launched job, it seems like you only did a lightwalletd full sync:
https://github.com/ZcashFoundation/zebra/actions/runs/7122229111

Since the scheduled job starts in about 16 hours, I'd just let it run and not start anything manual.

[teor2345]

Thanks for looking into the cargo release alpha issue. I found a workaround.

[teor2345]

Looks great!