Release Checklist

Shipping a release is easy. There's a rake task: rake release, which will create a new tag, push it to GitHub, build a gem and then push it to RubyGems.org. BUT before you run that task, there are a few things to check:

• Are there any open issues or pull requests?
• Are all the intended changes committed and merged into master?
• Are all the specs passing on your machine?
• Is the build is passing on all supported Ruby versions?
• Did you update the CHANGELOG?
• Did you bump the version number?
• Is the new version number semantic?
• If you're releasing a minor version, are you sure you didn't break backwards compatibility?
• If you're releasing a major version, are you sure breaking backwards compatibility is necessary? Is there any way to achieve the same objectives while maintaining compatibility?
• If you're releasing a major version, you should ship a release candidate to gather feedback from the community. Release candidates should be in the wild for at least 72 hours before they are blessed for release.

After a release

• Verify that the tag got created and pushed to GitHub.
• Verify that the gem was uploaded to RubyGems.org and installs successfully.
• Tweet from the @gem Twitter account (ask @sferik for the credentials).
• Post an announcement to the mailing list.
• Enjoy a cold beverage. If you have followed all these steps, you have shipped a solid release.