Proposal: No new release branches for point releases

[legoktm]

Proposal:

Affected components

• SecureDrop Server
• SecureDrop Workstation
• SecureDrop Client

People and roles

• @legoktm - proposer
• entire SD team as affected / for input

Problem Statement

I wasn't sure if this was too trivial to write up a proposal for, but...

Currently we create a release/x.y.z branch for every release we make. 0.12.0 gets a branch, and if we need a 0.12.1, it also gets its own branch.

Or in visual terms:

main
|- 0.11.0
|- 0.12.0
    |- 0.12.1 
        |- 0.12.2
|- 0.13.0

Once a release is done, the branch will never be used again. At the same time, there is no difference between creating 0.12.1 in the 0.12.0 branch or creating a new 0.12.1 branch from that point. Releases should always be linear and move forwards even if we're e.g. reverting stuff.

Solution impact

• Slightly less branches and less steps in point releases

Requirements and constraints

• Shouldn't interfere with creating more point releases

Exploration

Initial proposal

• Going forwards we create release/0.12.x style branches, that are used for the 0.12.0 and any further point releases. Individual releases are still identifiable via tags.
  • If for some reason there's some edge case and we need to create a point release-specific branch, we still can.

Selected proposal

[zenmonkeykstop]

Thumbs up from me, we keep the release/u.v.0 branch around anyway, can easily use it for subsequent hotfixes.

[eloquence]

Added to proposal backlog for now.