Merge pull request symfony#2720 from symfony/documentation-release-process

weaverryan · weaverryan · commit 7e72b0f943ee · 2013-06-29T15:15:02.000-07:00
The Documentation Release Process
diff --git a/contributing/community/releases.rst b/contributing/community/releases.rst
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ release comes out every *six months*: one in *May* and one in *November*.
     "rules" explained in this document must be strictly followed as of Symfony
     2.4.
 
+.. _contributing-release-development:
+
 Development
 -----------
 
@@ -29,6 +31,8 @@ During the development phase, any new feature can be reverted if it won't be
 finished in time or if it won't be stable enough to be included in the current
 final release.
 
+.. _contributing-release-maintenance:
+
 Maintenance
 -----------
 
diff --git a/contributing/documentation/overview.rst b/contributing/documentation/overview.rst
@@ -184,3 +184,49 @@ Read the dedicated :doc:`document <translations>`.
 .. _`fork`: https://help.github.com/articles/fork-a-repo
 .. _`pull requests`: https://help.github.com/articles/using-pull-requests
 .. _`Documentation Build Errors`: http://symfony.com/doc/build_errors
+
+Managing Releases
+-----------------
+
+Symfony has a very standardized release process, which you can read more
+about in the :doc:`/contributing/community/releases` section.
+
+To keep up with the release process, the documentation team makes several
+changes to the documentation at various parts of the lifecycle.
+
+When a Release reaches "end of maintenance"
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Every release will eventually reach its "end of maintenance". For details,
+see :ref:`contributing-release-maintenance`.
+
+When a release reaches its end of maintenance, the following items are done.
+For this example, suppose version 2.1 has just reached its end of maintenance:
+
+* Changes and pull requests are no longer merged into to the branch (2.1),
+  except for security updates, which are merged until the release reaches
+  its "end of life".
+
+* All branches still under maintenance (e.g. 2.2 and higher) are updated
+  to reflect that pull requests should start from the now-oldest maintained
+  version (e.g. 2.2).
+
+* Remove all ``versionadded`` directives - and any other notes related to features
+  changing or being new - for the version (e.g. 2.1) from the master branch.
+  The result is that the next release (which is the first that comes entirely
+  *after* the end of maintenance of this branch), will have no mentions of
+  the old version (e.g. 2.1).
+
+When a new Branch is created for a Release
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+During the :ref:`stabilization phase<contributing-release-development>`, a
+new branch on the documentation is created. For example, if version 2.3 were
+being stabilized, then a new 2.3 branch would be created for it. When this
+happens, the following items are done:
+
+* Change all version and master references to the correct version (e.g. 2.3).
+  For example, in installation chapters, we reference the version you should
+  use for installation. As an example, see the changes made in `PR #2688`_.
+
+.. _`PR #2688`: https://github.com/symfony/symfony-docs/pull/2688
