documentation: add release documentation

Adding information about how to release claircore from main and from a release branch. Signed-off-by: crozzy <[email protected]>
quay · Jan 2, 2025 · faf4f98 · faf4f98
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diff --git a/docs/contributor.md b/docs/contributor.md
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 These topics cover helpful tips for contributing to Claircore.
 
+- [Changelog](./contributor/changelog.md)
 - [Local Development](./contributor/local-dev.md)
 - [Logging](./contributor/logging.md)
 - [Misc](./contributor/misc.md)
+- [Releases](./contributor/releases.md)
 - [Tests](./contributor/tests.md)
diff --git a/docs/contributor/releases.md b/docs/contributor/releases.md
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+# Releases
+
+Claircore releases are cut as and when they are needed.
+
+Traditionally releases are always cut from the `main` branch so as not to complicate
+the release process, however, on rare occasions when a fix is time-sensitive then
+cutting a release from a release branch is possible.
+
+## Process
+
+> **_NOTE:_** Ensure changelog entries have been created for the relevant commits.
+> (see [Changelog documentation](./changelog.md))
+
+### From main
+
+```sh
+.github/scripts/prepare-release -b main -r upstream v1.x.x
+```
+
+Follow the `prepare-release` command's instructions to merge changelog updates and release the tag.
+
+### From release branch
+
+First create the relevant release branch (e.g if you are releasing `v1.6.1` create `release-1.6` from the
+previous tag (in this case `v1.6.0`)). Then backport any commits and push up the release branch.
+
+```sh
+git branch release-1.x v1.x.x
+git cherry-pick -x {commit sha}
+git push upstream release-1.x
+```
+
+Finally, prepare the release specifying the release branch.
+
+```sh
+.github/scripts/prepare-release -b release-1.x -r upstream v1.x.x
+```
+
+Follow the `prepare-release` command's instructions to merge changelog updates and release the tag.