Merge pull request harvesthq#2998 from harvesthq/release_documentation

Add docs about how to release Chosen versions

contributing.md

@@ -192,3 +192,34 @@ Once you're configured, `grunt` tasks are available:
     grunt watch                # watch coffee/ for changes and build Chosen
 
 If you're interested, you can find the task in [Gruntfile.coffee](https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/blob/master/Gruntfile.coffee).
+
+# Release a new version of Chosen
+
+This documentation is for Chosen maintainers.  You must have write permissions for this repository to cut a release.
+
+1. Bump the version number in the source but _do not push it yet_. [Example commit](https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/commit/be0a298f528ec59ce97889eaeeeb47a2dca9ca79).
+
+2. Create a tag for that commit: `git tag -m "<tagname>" <tagname> <SHA>`
+
+    - `<tagname>` formatted as `vX.Y.Z`
+    - `<SHA>` is the SHA of the commit from step 1
+
+3. Push the commit _and_ the tag: `git push origin --follow-tags`
+
+4. Draft a new release [on the releases page](https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen/releases).
+
+    - Title formatted as "Version X.Y.Z"
+    - Tagged as `<tagname>` from step 2
+    - Body of the release should contain changes included in the release. Ideally, there will already be a draft release present with a running log from contributions merged since the last release.
+
+5. Run `grunt prep-release`
+
+6. Attach the generated `chosen_vX.Y.Z.zip` file (in the Chosen root directory) to the draft release from step 4.
+
+7. Publish the release.
+
+8. Run `grunt publish-release` to publish to the `gh-pages` branch.
+
+9. Verify https://harvesthq.github.io/chosen/ is showing the new version.
+
+_Note:_ the release repository [harvesthq/chosen-package](https://github.com/harvesthq/chosen-package) is automatically built by [Travis CI](https://travis-ci.org/harvesthq/chosen). No explicit action is necessary.