Release Process

Owned by Heather Greer Klein
Last updated: Oct 26, 2023 by Juliet Hardesty
2 min read

[Release processes can be documented here for any Samvera technology but Hyrax is the only process documented here right now.]

Hyrax Release Process

For each release cycle, there will be at least one designated Release Testing facilitator (could be Hyrax Product Owner or someone else) from the Hyrax Maintenance Working Group to facilitate the process. Instructions for conducting release testing can be found here.

For each cycle the Release Testing facilitator will:

  • Communicate with testers and demo site committers about timing of upcoming release.

  • Ensure the Managers Guide, UI Interactions, Test Tracking Spreadsheet and demo site are up to date for the process of testing and documentation.

  • Recruit help with testing, bug reporting and documentation.

  • Ensure testing and documentation is complete.

This testing process complements test coverage and regression testing in the code but does not replace it. This testing is meant to facilitate browser, platform, feature, (basic) usability and completion, and accessibility.

Major release process:

Beta Release: All major features are complete.

  • Beta release on demo site

  • Testing for user acceptance and general readiness for systematic testing (no major issues identified that would impede testing).

  • Beta release is announced

  • First draft of documentation is done

  • First round of testing and bug reporting begins

  • Institutions have a chance to report bugs or ask for a PR to be considered for inclusion in release

Release Candidate (RC): Feature Freeze and bug fixes only.

  • RC goes to demo site

  • RC is announced

  • Finalize feature documentation by end of phase

  • Finalize testing document by end of phase

  • Distributed testing of all features, supported browsers, accessibility testing.

  • Report bugs

  • Confirm bugs (Hyrax Product Owner) and determine priority (need to establish process for this)

  • Fix all priority bugs

  • Repeat above with additional versions of RCx until release is confirmed stable.

Final Release:

  • Once Final Release is ready, at least 1 in-production institutions should upgrade before wide release (This may not be doable, but would be good if there are institutions willing to do this, could rotate and plan ahead to help curb)

  • Make sure to update the README if the release requires any new system dependencies or startup steps.

  • Update the Hyrax Feature Matrix

  • Final Release is announced widely

Minor release process:

  • Follows the Major release process on a much more compressed timeline.

  • Upgrade demo site, retaining data. In the occasion that data needs to be wiped for whatever reason, this is fine. Mostly we want to test that data and users migrate smoothly.

Hyrax Shared Testing Tools:

DEV.NURAX: shared testing and demo instance of Hyrax running on the most recent stable release of Hyrax.

Hyrax Feature Guide: describes features, set up and concepts for Hyrax repositories

Hyrax test tracking document: google doc that helps us track what is tested (including browsers and accessibility) for each release.

Testing list will include the following: