Release Process

Note: This document describes how to release java_tools for a JDK version that is already tested by Bazel. This document is addressed to trusted members of the Bazel team who have access to the Buildkite Bazel trusted pipelines and GCP. If you want to release the Java tools but don’t have these permissions please contact someone from the Bazel EngProd team (bazel-engprod@google.com).

The steps below are only meant to be followed as presented in order to release a new java_tools version. To understand the mechanism behind these steps and for more details about how the process works, see Behind the java_tools release process.

1. Create a new tracking issue for the release in this repository and add the release label. See #7 as an example.
2. Trigger a new build of the java_tools binaries pipeline.
3. Identify and set the following environment variables:

• COMMIT_HASH the commit hash where the pipeline was run (see below)
• NEW_VERSION the new version number you’re trying to release (e.g. 3.1)
• RC the number of the current release candidate

4. Create a new release candidate by running the command below from the bazel repo:

   src/create_java_tools_release.sh \
   --commit_hash $COMMIT_HASH \
   --java_tools_version $NEW_VERSION \
   --rc $RC --release false
   

   The script will output the sha256sum of the rc artifacts for linux, darwin and windows.

5. Create a new bazel Pull Request that updates the java_tools archives (file distdir_deps.bzl) with the new release candidates. The PR triggers the CI presubmit.

6. Trigger a new build on Downstream https://buildkite.com/bazel/bazel-at-head-plus-downstream. Using pull/PRNUMBER/head for the branch.

   1. If the CI finishes successfully:
      • create the release artifacts from the release candidate:

      src/create_java_tools_release.sh \
      --java_tools_version $NEW_VERSION \
      --rc $RC --release true
      

      • update the urls of the http_archives in the upgrade PR and send it for review.
   2. If the CI finishes unsuccessfully find the reasons why the CI is failing and file bugs. After the bugs are fixed start all over again creating the next release candidate. This case is highly unlikely because bazel already tests the java_tools built at head.