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.

Create a new tracking issue for the release in this repository and add the release label. See #59 as an example.
Trigger a new build of the java_tools binaries pipeline. Set the message field to “java_tools release [version] [rc]”. See example.
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. 11.09)

RC the number of the current release candidate

For example:

export COMMIT_HASH=7bd0ab63a8441c3f3d7f495d09ed2bed38762874
export NEW_VERSION=11.09
export RC=1

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.

Sample output:

$ src/create_java_tools_release.sh --commit_hash 7bd0ab63a8441c3f3d7f495d09ed2bed38762874 --java_tools_version 11.9 --rc 1 --release false

  release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools_linux-v11.9-rc1.zip 512582cac5b7ea7974a77b0da4581b21f546c9478f206eedf54687eeac035989
  release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools_windows-v11.9-rc1.zip 677ab910046205020fd715489147c2bcfad8a35d9f5d94fdc998d217545bd87a
  release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_x86_64-v11.9-rc1.zip b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4
  release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_arm64-v11.9-rc1.zip 3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab
  release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools-v11.9-rc1.zip 5cd59ea6bf938a1efc1e11ea562d37b39c82f76781211b7cd941a2346ea8484d

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.

Edit distdir_deps.bzl by updating the archive, sha256, and urls fields for remote_java_tools with the correct version, rc, sha256sum, and url (see output from step 4)

Example:

"archive": "java_tools-v11.9-rc1.zip",
"sha256": "5cd59ea6bf938a1efc1e11ea562d37b39c82f76781211b7cd941a2346ea8484d",
"urls": [
    "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/release_candidates/java/v11.9/java_tools-v11.9-rc1.zip",
],

Repeat for remote_java_tools_linux, remote_java_tools_windows, remote_java_tools_darwin_x86_64 and remote_java_tools_darwin_arm64
See #16865 for reference (this commit)

Trigger a new build on Downstream https://buildkite.com/bazel/bazel-at-head-plus-downstream. Set the message field to “java_tools release [version] [rc]”, leave the commit field as “HEAD”, and use pull/[PRNUMBER]/head for the branch. See example.

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

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

Sample output:

$ src/create_java_tools_release.sh --commit_hash 7bd0ab63a8441c3f3d7f495d09ed2bed38762874 --java_tools_version 11.9 --rc 1 --release true

  releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_linux-v11.9.zip 512582cac5b7ea7974a77b0da4581b21f546c9478f206eedf54687eeac035989
  releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_windows-v11.9.zip 677ab910046205020fd715489147c2bcfad8a35d9f5d94fdc998d217545bd87a
  releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_x86_64-v11.9.zip b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4
  releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_arm64-v11.9.zip 3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab
  releases/java/v11.9/java_tools-v11.9.zip 5cd59ea6bf938a1efc1e11ea562d37b39c82f76781211b7cd941a2346ea8484d

Return to your PR and update the update the archive, sha256, and urls fields again (see step 5 above for reference). See #16865 (this commit).

Example:

"archive": "java_tools-v11.9.zip",
"sha256": "5cd59ea6bf938a1efc1e11ea562d37b39c82f76781211b7cd941a2346ea8484d",
"urls": [
   "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools-v11.9.zip",
   "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools-v11.9.zip",
],

Update the release in the java_tools releases page

Create on “Draft a new release”

Set tag to java_v[version number], e.g. java_v11.09
Set target to master
Add the name, sha256, and urls to the description

Example:

To use this java_tools release, add to your WORKSPACE file the definitions:

http_archive(
    name = "remote_java_tools",
    sha256 = "5cd59ea6bf938a1efc1e11ea562d37b39c82f76781211b7cd941a2346ea8484d",
    urls = [
            "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools-v11.9.zip",
            "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools-v11.9.zip",
    ],
)

http_archive(
    name = "remote_java_tools_linux",
    sha256 = "512582cac5b7ea7974a77b0da4581b21f546c9478f206eedf54687eeac035989",
    urls = [
            "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_linux-v11.9.zip",
            "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools_linux-v11.9.zip",
    ],
)

http_archive(
    name = "remote_java_tools_windows",
    sha256 = "677ab910046205020fd715489147c2bcfad8a35d9f5d94fdc998d217545bd87a",
    urls = [
            "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_windows-v11.9.zip",
            "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools_windows-v11.9.zip",    
    ],
)

http_archive(
    name = "remote_java_tools_darwin_x86_64",
    sha256 = "b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4",
    urls = [
            "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_x86_64-v11.9.zip",
            "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools_darwin_x86_64-v11.9.zip",
    ],
)

http_archive(
    name = "remote_java_tools_darwin_arm64",
    sha256 = "3a897c6370d4c2724bde4017b40932ff4fe4b9e962c6a836ba1d7573f2473fab",
    urls = [
            "https://mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases/java/v11.9/java_tools_darwin_arm64-v11.9.zip",
            "https://github.com/bazelbuild/java_tools/releases/download/java_v11.9/java_tools_darwin_arm64-v11.9.zip",
    ],
)

Download the 4 .zip files from mirror.bazel.build/bazel_java_tools/releases and attach them to the release
Set as the latest release
Refer to this example

Update package_version, see example
After making sure presubmits pass, send the PR for review and assign @comius and @hvadehra
Make the corresponding updates to java_tools_repos() in the repositories.bzl file in the rules_java repository. Refer to this example.

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 from step 2 and create the next release candidate. This case is highly unlikely because bazel already tests the java_tools built at head.