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Release Process

Branch updates

Before every release candidate

  • Update release candidate version in CMakeLists.txt (CLIENT_VERSION_RC).
  • Update manpages (after rebuilding the binaries), see gen-manpages.py.
  • Update bitcoin.conf and commit changes if they exist, see gen-bitcoin-conf.sh.

Before every major and minor release

  • Update bips.md to account for changes since the last release.
  • Update version in CMakeLists.txt (don't forget to set CLIENT_VERSION_RC to 0).
  • Update manpages (see previous section)
  • Write release notes (see "Write the release notes" below) in doc/release-notes.md. If necessary, archive the previous release notes as doc/release-notes/release-notes-${VERSION}.md.

Before every major release

  • On both the master branch and the new release branch:
  • On the new release branch in CMakeLists.txt(see this commit):
    • set CLIENT_VERSION_MINOR to 0
    • set CLIENT_VERSION_BUILD to 0
    • set CLIENT_VERSION_IS_RELEASE to true

Before branch-off

  • Update translations see translation_process.md.
  • Update hardcoded seeds, see this pull request for an example.
  • Update the following variables in src/kernel/chainparams.cpp for mainnet, testnet, and signet:
    • m_assumed_blockchain_size and m_assumed_chain_state_size with the current size plus some overhead (see this for information on how to calculate them).
    • The following updates should be reviewed with reindex-chainstate and assumevalid=0 to catch any defect that causes rejection of blocks in the past history.
    • chainTxData with statistics about the transaction count and rate. Use the output of the getchaintxstats RPC with an nBlocks of 4096 (28 days) and a bestblockhash of RPC getbestblockhash; see this pull request for an example. Reviewers can verify the results by running getchaintxstats <window_block_count> <window_final_block_hash> with the window_block_count and window_final_block_hash from your output.
    • defaultAssumeValid with the output of RPC getblockhash using the height of window_final_block_height above (and update the block height comment with that height), taking into account the following:
      • On mainnet, the selected value must not be orphaned, so it may be useful to set the height two blocks back from the tip.
      • Testnet should be set with a height some tens of thousands back from the tip, due to reorgs there.
    • nMinimumChainWork with the "chainwork" value of RPC getblockheader using the same height as that selected for the previous step.
  • Consider updating the headers synchronization tuning parameters to account for the chainparams updates. The optimal values change very slowly, so this isn't strictly necessary every release, but doing so doesn't hurt.
    • Update configuration variables in contrib/devtools/headerssync-params.py:
      • Set TIME to the software's expected supported lifetime -- after this time, its ability to defend against a high bandwidth timewarp attacker will begin to degrade.
      • Set MINCHAINWORK_HEADERS to the height used for the nMinimumChainWork calculation above.
      • Check that the other variables still look reasonable.
    • Run the script. It works fine in CPython, but PyPy is much faster (seconds instead of minutes): pypy3 contrib/devtools/headerssync-params.py.
    • Paste the output defining HEADER_COMMITMENT_PERIOD and REDOWNLOAD_BUFFER_SIZE into the top of src/headerssync.cpp.
  • Clear the release notes and move them to the wiki (see "Write the release notes" below).
  • Translations on Transifex:
    • Pull translations from Transifex into the master branch.
    • Create a new resource named after the major version with the slug qt-translation-<RRR>x, where RRR is the major branch number padded with zeros. Use src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf to create it.
    • In the project workflow settings, ensure that Translation Memory Fill-up is enabled and that Translation Memory Context Matching is disabled.
    • Update the Transifex slug in .tx/config to the slug of the resource created in the first step. This identifies which resource the translations will be synchronized from.
    • Make an announcement that translators can start translating for the new version. You can use one of the previous announcements as a template.
    • Change the auto-update URL for the resource to master, e.g. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/master/src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf. (Do this only after the previous steps, to prevent an auto-update from interfering.)

After branch-off (on the major release branch)

  • Update the versions.
  • Create the draft, named "version Release Notes Draft", as a collaborative wiki.
  • Clear the release notes: cp doc/release-notes-empty-template.md doc/release-notes.md
  • Create a pinned meta-issue for testing the release candidate (see this issue for an example) and provide a link to it in the release announcements where useful.
  • Translations on Transifex
    • Change the auto-update URL for the new major version's resource away from master and to the branch, e.g. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/<branch>/src/qt/locale/bitcoin_en.xlf. Do not forget this or it will keep tracking the translations on master instead, drifting away from the specific major release.
  • Prune inputs from the qa-assets repo (See pruning inputs).

Before final release

Tagging a release (candidate)

To tag the version (or release candidate) in git, use the make-tag.py script from bitcoin-maintainer-tools. From the root of the repository run:

../bitcoin-maintainer-tools/make-tag.py v(new version, e.g. 25.0)

This will perform a few last-minute consistency checks in the build system files, and if they pass, create a signed tag.

Building

First time / New builders

Install Guix using one of the installation methods detailed in contrib/guix/INSTALL.md.

Check out the source code in the following directory hierarchy.

cd /path/to/your/toplevel/build
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-core/guix.sigs.git
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-detached-sigs.git
git clone https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin.git

Write the release notes

Open a draft of the release notes for collaborative editing at https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki.

For the period during which the notes are being edited on the wiki, the version on the branch should be wiped and replaced with a link to the wiki which should be used for all announcements until -final.

Generate list of authors:

git log --format='- %aN' v(current version, e.g. 25.0)..v(new version, e.g. 25.1) | grep -v 'merge-script' | sort -fiu

Setup and perform Guix builds

Checkout the Bitcoin Core version you'd like to build:

pushd ./bitcoin
SIGNER='(your builder key, ie bluematt, sipa, etc)'
VERSION='(new version without v-prefix, e.g. 25.0)'
git fetch origin "v${VERSION}"
git checkout "v${VERSION}"
popd

Ensure your guix.sigs are up-to-date if you wish to guix-verify your builds against other guix-attest signatures.

git -C ./guix.sigs pull

Create the macOS SDK tarball (first time, or when SDK version changes)

Create the macOS SDK tarball, see the macdeploy instructions for details.

Build and attest to build outputs

Follow the relevant Guix README.md sections:

Verify other builders' signatures to your own (optional)

Commit your non codesigned signature to guix.sigs

pushd ./guix.sigs
git add "${VERSION}/${SIGNER}"/noncodesigned.SHA256SUMS{,.asc}
git commit -m "Add attestations by ${SIGNER} for ${VERSION} non-codesigned"
popd

Then open a Pull Request to the guix.sigs repository.

Codesigning

macOS codesigner only: Create detached macOS signatures (assuming signapple is installed and up to date with master branch)

In the guix-build-${VERSION}/output/x86_64-apple-darwin and guix-build-${VERSION}/output/arm64-apple-darwin directories:

tar xf bitcoin-osx-unsigned.tar.gz
./detached-sig-create.sh /path/to/codesign.p12
Enter the keychain password and authorize the signature
signature-osx.tar.gz will be created

Windows codesigner only: Create detached Windows signatures

In the guix-build-${VERSION}/output/x86_64-w64-mingw32 directory:

tar xf bitcoin-win-unsigned.tar.gz
./detached-sig-create.sh -key /path/to/codesign.key
Enter the passphrase for the key when prompted
signature-win.tar.gz will be created

Windows and macOS codesigners only: test code signatures

It is advised to test that the code signature attaches properly prior to tagging by performing the guix-codesign step. However if this is done, once the release has been tagged in the bitcoin-detached-sigs repo, the guix-codesign step must be performed again in order for the guix attestation to be valid when compared against the attestations of non-codesigner builds. The directories created by guix-codesign will need to be cleared prior to running guix-codesign again.

Windows and macOS codesigners only: Commit the detached codesign payloads

pushd ./bitcoin-detached-sigs
# checkout or create the appropriate branch for this release series
git checkout --orphan <branch>
# if you are the macOS codesigner
rm -rf osx
tar xf signature-osx.tar.gz
# if you are the windows codesigner
rm -rf win
tar xf signature-win.tar.gz
git add -A
git commit -m "<version>: {osx,win} signature for {rc,final}"
git tag -s "v${VERSION}" HEAD
git push the current branch and new tag
popd

Non-codesigners: wait for Windows and macOS detached signatures

  • Once the Windows and macOS builds each have 3 matching signatures, they will be signed with their respective release keys.
  • Detached signatures will then be committed to the bitcoin-detached-sigs repository, which can be combined with the unsigned apps to create signed binaries.

Create the codesigned build outputs

Verify other builders' signatures to your own (optional)

Commit your codesigned signature to guix.sigs (for the signed macOS/Windows binaries)

pushd ./guix.sigs
git add "${VERSION}/${SIGNER}"/all.SHA256SUMS{,.asc}
git commit -m "Add attestations by ${SIGNER} for ${VERSION} codesigned"
popd

Then open a Pull Request to the guix.sigs repository.

After 6 or more people have guix-built and their results match

After verifying signatures, combine the all.SHA256SUMS.asc file from all signers into SHA256SUMS.asc:

cat "$VERSION"/*/all.SHA256SUMS.asc > SHA256SUMS.asc

  • Upload to the bitcoincore.org server:

    1. The contents of each ./bitcoin/guix-build-${VERSION}/output/${HOST}/ directory.

      Guix will output all of the results into host subdirectories, but the SHA256SUMS file does not include these subdirectories. In order for downloads via torrent to verify without directory structure modification, all of the uploaded files need to be in the same directory as the SHA256SUMS file.

      Wait until all of these files have finished uploading before uploading the SHA256SUMS(.asc) files.

    2. The SHA256SUMS file

    3. The SHA256SUMS.asc combined signature file you just created.

  • After uploading release candidate binaries, notify the bitcoin-core-dev mailing list and bitcoin-dev group that a release candidate is available for testing. Include a link to the release notes draft.

  • The server will automatically create an OpenTimestamps file and torrent of the directory.

  • Optionally help seed this torrent. To get the magnet: URI use:

    transmission-show -m <torrent file>

    Insert the magnet URI into the announcement sent to mailing lists. This permits people without access to bitcoincore.org to download the binary distribution. Also put it into the optional_magnetlink: slot in the YAML file for bitcoincore.org.

  • Archive the release notes for the new version to doc/release-notes/release-notes-${VERSION}.md (branch master and branch of the release).

  • Update the bitcoincore.org website

  • Update repositories

  • Announce the release:

Additional information

How to calculate m_assumed_blockchain_size and m_assumed_chain_state_size

Both variables are used as a guideline for how much space the user needs on their drive in total, not just strictly for the blockchain. Note that all values should be taken from a fully synced node and have an overhead of 5-10% added on top of its base value.

To calculate m_assumed_blockchain_size, take the size in GiB of these directories:

  • For mainnet -> the data directory, excluding the /testnet3, /testnet4, /signet, and /regtest directories and any overly large files, e.g. a huge debug.log
  • For testnet -> /testnet3
  • For testnet4 -> /testnet4
  • For signet -> /signet

To calculate m_assumed_chain_state_size, take the size in GiB of these directories:

  • For mainnet -> /chainstate
  • For testnet -> /testnet3/chainstate
  • For testnet4 -> /testnet4/chainstate
  • For signet -> /signet/chainstate

Notes:

  • When taking the size for m_assumed_blockchain_size, there's no need to exclude the /chainstate directory since it's a guideline value and an overhead will be added anyway.
  • The expected overhead for growth may change over time. Consider whether the percentage needs to be changed in response; if so, update it here in this section.