Change:
<ins> <!-- BEGIN MUNGE: UNVERSIONED_WARNING --> <!-- BEGIN STRIP_FOR_RELEASE --> <img src="http://kubernetes.io/img/warning.png" alt="WARNING" width="25" height="25"> <img src="http://kubernetes.io/img/warning.png" alt="WARNING" width="25" height="25"> <img src="http://kubernetes.io/img/warning.png" alt="WARNING" width="25" height="25"> <img src="http://kubernetes.io/img/warning.png" alt="WARNING" width="25" height="25"> <img src="http://kubernetes.io/img/warning.png" alt="WARNING" width="25" height="25"> <h2>PLEASE NOTE: This document applies to the HEAD of the source tree</h2> If you are using a released version of Kubernetes, you should refer to the docs that go with that version. Documentation for other releases can be found at [releases.k8s.io](http://releases.k8s.io). </strong> -- <!-- END STRIP_FOR_RELEASE --> <!-- END MUNGE: UNVERSIONED_WARNING --> # Kubernetes Release Notes [djmm@google.com](mailto:djmm@google.com)<BR> Last Updated: 2016-3-25 <!-- BEGIN MUNGE: GENERATED_TOC --> - [Kubernetes Release Notes](#kubernetes-release-notes) - [Objective](#objective) - [Background](#background) - [The Problem](#the-problem) - [The (general) Solution](#the-general-solution) - [Then why not just list *every* change that was submitted, CHANGELOG-style?](#then-why-not-just-list-every-change-that-was-submitted-changelog-style) - [Options](#options) - [Collection Design](#collection-design) - [Publishing Design](#publishing-design) - [Location](#location) - [Layout](#layout) - [Alpha/Beta/Patch Releases](#alphabetapatch-releases) - [Major/Minor Releases](#majorminor-releases) - [Work estimates](#work-estimates) - [Caveats / Considerations](#caveats--considerations) <!-- END MUNGE: GENERATED_TOC --> ## Objective Define a process and design tooling for collecting, arranging and publishing release notes for Kubernetes releases, automating as much of the process as possible. The goal is to introduce minor changes to the development workflow in a way that is mostly frictionless and allows for the capture of release notes as PRs are submitted to the repository. This direct association of release notes to PRs captures the intention of release visibility of the PR at the point an idea is submitted upstream. The release notes can then be more easily collected and published when the release is ready. ## Background ### The Problem Release notes are often an afterthought and clarifying and finalizing them is often left until the very last minute at the time the release is made. This is usually long after the feature or bug fix was added and is no longer on the mind of the author.  Worse, the collecting and summarizing of the release is often left to those who may know little or nothing about these individual changes! Writing and editing release notes at the end of the cycle can be a rushed, interrupt-driven and often stressful process resulting in incomplete, inconsistent release notes often with errors and omissions. ### The (general) Solution Like most things in the development/release pipeline, the earlier you do it, the easier it is for everyone and the better the outcome.  Gather your release notes earlier in the development cycle, at the time the features and fixes are added. #### Then why not just list *every* change that was submitted, CHANGELOG-style? On larger projects like Kubernetes, showing every single change (PR) would mean hundreds of entries.  The goal is to highlight the major changes for a release. ## Options 1. Use of pre-commit and other local git hooks * Experiments here using `prepare-commit-msg` and `commit-msg` git hook files were promising but less than optimal due to the fact that they would require input/confirmation with each commit and there may be multiple commits in a push and eventual PR. 1. Use of [github templates](https://github.com/blog/2111-issue-and-pull-request-templates) * Templates provide a great way to pre-fill PR comments, but there are no server-side hooks available to parse and/or easily check the contents of those templates to ensure that checkboxes were checked or forms were filled in. 1. Use of labels enforced by mungers/bots * We already make great use of mungers/bots to manage labels on PRs and it fits very nicely in the existing workflow ## Collection Design The munger/bot option fits most cleanly into the existing workflow. The design will include: 1. New labels added to github: `release-note-none`, maybe others for new release note categories - see Layout section below 1. A [new munger](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/23409) that will: * Initiate a `release-note-needed` label on all new PRs * Block merge by the submit queue on all PRs labeled as `release-note-needed` * Auto-remove `release-note-needed` when one of the release-note-* labels is added * Special case for cherry-picked/branch PRs, release-note-none is not allowed ## Publishing Design ### Location With v1.2.0, the release notes were moved from their previous [github releases](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/releases) location to [CHANGELOG.md](../../CHANGELOG.md).  Going forward this seems like a good plan. Other projects do similarly. The kuberntes.tar.gz download link is also displayed along with the release notes in [CHANGELOG.md](../../CHANGELOG.md). Is there any reason to continue publishing anything to github releases if the complete release story is published in [CHANGELOG.md](../../CHANGELOG.md)? ### Layout Different types of releases will generally have different requirements in terms of layout.  As expected, major releases like v1.2.0 are going to require much more detail than the automated release notes will provide. The idea is that these mechanisms will provide 100% of the release note content for alpha, beta and most minor releases and bootstrap the content with a release note 'template' for the authors of major releases like v1.2.0. The authors can then collaborate and edit the higher level sections of the release notes in a PR, updating [CHANGELOG.md](../../CHANGELOG.md) as needed. v1.2.0 demonstrated the need, at least for major releases like v1.2.0, for several sections in the published release notes. In order to provide a basic layout for release notes in the future, new releases can bootstrap [CHANGELOG.md](../../CHANGELOG.md) with the following template types: #### Alpha/Beta/Patch Releases These are automatically generated from `release-note*` labels, but can be modified as needed. ``` Action Required * PR titles from the release-note-action-required label Other notable changes * PR titles from the release-note label ``` #### Major/Minor Releases ``` Major Themes * Add to or delete this section Other notable improvements * Add to or delete this section Experimental Features * Add to or delete this section Action Required * PR titles from the release-note-action-required label Known Issues * Add to or delete this section Provider-specific Notes * Add to or delete this section Other notable changes * PR titles from the release-note label ``` ## Work estimates * The [new munger](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/23409) * Owner: @eparis * Time estimate: Mostly done * Updates to the tool that collects, organizes, publishes and sends release notifications. * Owner: @david-mcmahon * Time estimate: A few days ## Caveats / Considerations * As part of the planning and development workflow how can we capture release notes for bigger features? [#23070](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/23070) * For now contributors should simply use the first PR that enables a new feature by default.  We'll revisit if this does not work well. <!-- BEGIN MUNGE: GENERATED_ANALYTICS --> [![Analytics](https://kubernetes-site.appspot.com/UA-36037335-10/GitHub/docs/proposals/release-notes.md?pixel)]() <!-- END MUNGE: GENERATED_ANALYTICS --> </ins>

Discussion:
Currently, PRs having label is automatically included as part of the release notes. This process does not work for big features though. We need to track issues that represent features as well and include a gist from those issues in the release notes.
From email to kubernetes-dev: One thing that was clear is that most people didn't know what should go into the release notes. In a number of cases, I had to ask specific people to add specific items to specific sections. The only way I could do that is I knew what was in the release and how the release notes should be organized. We need a template for release notes, guidelines for what belongs in release notes, and an example set of release notes (1.2.0). We also need to capture items that belong in release notes before the PRs merge. David M. has a proposal to automate release-note collection. We need to extend it with the categories we've created and require every PR assign a category (including something like release-note/none-minor-fix) before being merged by the submit queue. PRs that belong in the release notes will need to have extractable release note text in their PR descriptions. Writing release notes should be to the documented developer workflow.
For now the workaround here is to ensure that the first PR that enables a feature contain the appropriate label.
Closing. Moved to release repo.