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Release Process

When releasing code, we take the view that the master branch is always deployable. Whenever we merge a branch into master, this is automatically deployed to our development environment in the DfE Cloud Platform.

To deploy to production, we take the following steps.

1. Update the Changelog and create a pull request

  • Create a branch from master for the release called release-xxx where xxx is the release number (a 3 digit number padded with zeros)

  • Move all features from the Unreleased section of CHANGELOG.md to a new heading with the release number linked to a diff of the two latest versions, together with the date in the following format:

    ## [Release XXX] - 2019-01-01

...

[release xxx]:
  https://github.com/DFE-Digital/dfe-teachers-payment-service/compare/previous-release...release-xxx

  • Create a commit for the release, including the changes for the release in the commit message

  • Push the branch

  • Open a pull request and get it reviewed

2. Confirm the release and review the pull request

The pull request should be reviewed to confirm that the changes currently in staging are safe to ship and that CHANGELOG.md accurately reflects the changes included in the release:

  • Confirm the release with any relevant people (for example the product owner)
  • Think about any dependencies that also need considering: dependent parts of the service that also need updating; environment variables that need changing/adding; third-party services that need to be set up/updated

3. Push the tag

Once the pull request has been merged, create a tag against the merge commit in the format release-xxx (zero-padded again) and push it to GitHub:

git tag release-xxx merge-commit-for-release
git push origin refs/tags/release-xxx

4. Trigger a production release in Azure DevOps

Once the build has passed for the newly tagged commit, you can deploy to production as follows:

  • Log in to this project on Azure DevOps.
  • Navigate to Pipelines > Pipelines.
  • Find the "Run" which corresponds to the merge commit created by merging the release pull request into master. This is the build which you want to release. You can filter by branch using the filter / funnel icon in the top right.
  • Note the build number of this build (for example, 20190717.2).
  • Navigate to Pipelines > Releases.
  • Click on the "Deploy" pipeline.
  • Click on the release matching the build number of the build you want to release.
  • Click on "Deploy Production" and manually trigger the deployment.

5. Update Trello

The cards in the "Next release" column that relate to code that has just been released should be moved to the top of the "Done" column.

6. Announce the release in #twd_claim_payments

Post an update in the team's main Slack channel #twd_claim_payments to let people know about the new release and the changes that have just gone out.