1.22 updates to Branch Manager handbook #1649
Description
What would you like to be added:
Derived from the branch management activities during the v1.22 cycle, it became evident that we need to add some information to the Branch Manager handbook:
- After 1.21, Release Engineering acquired the responsibility of updating the publishing bot rules. This time @palnabarun noted we were leaving out the update and PRd the rules for 1.22. We need to add this process to the rules. Note that there is a command in the works to automate the rules. This update is currently in flight (Add updating publishing-bot rules to the Branch Management handbook and Release issue template #1504 @xmudrii ).
- Fast Forwarding the branch is no longer the way we even out branches between code freeze and release (we now do cherry picks). The manual has still in it a section about
krel ffand fast forwarding the branch (Update branch manager handbook #2091). - The instructions for generating the new branch jobs do not work as they are. This could be due to a bug in the script or because of something missing from the instructions, we need to investigate and update the manual accordingly (replaced with Update release branch jobs creation documentation #2227).
- There is a link titled "Update Slack branch whitelists" in the manual under During the release creation. The section was removed but the link is there (Update branch manager handbook #2091).
- During the last couple of releases, the branch management team has started the practice of running the mocks the night before release day. This practice has many benefits such as giving the releng team a chance to deal with problems in the tooling without delaying the release and finishing the release process earlier allowing for teams in other time zones to finish during their daytime. We should add this practice as current to the handbook.
Why is this needed:
These updates are needed to reflect the current way we run a release cycle.
/kind documentation
/milestone v1.23