chore: release checklist

[mudler]

As we are going to release bittensor to the public soon, we want to have a "release pre-flight checklist" that gives us a set of steps to follow in order to have a release.

For instance, an hypothetical checklist can be:

• Make sure CI tests are passing
• Check if there are any issue that are blockers to the release
• Make sure docker images are published correctly
• Tag the masa-bittensor release
• Do we have to handle pypi releases?
• Update the release note text
• Update the documentation website
• Update installation instructions if needed https://github.com/masa-finance/masa-bittensor?tab=readme-ov-file#install
• Ping @giovaroma @lacyg4

Acceptance criteria

• Define a release checklist, considering the above indications
• Update the checklist in https://github.com/masa-finance/roadmap/blob/main/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/release-bittensor.md
• Update the checklist in 📣 Masa Bittensor release v0.5 roadmap#1

[juanmanso]

From my understanding this task is blocked by the following (if true, then we could edit the description to show said blockers):

• Blocked by Set up subtensor, miner (with masa protocol worker) and validator using docker compose #85
• Blocked by Github action to deploy devnet (opentensor subtensor instance with a subnet) #111
• Blocked by ci: Container images release #109
• [Optional] Blocked by Turn CI runs as PR checks for merging #108

I've put the last one optional since we could go with the realise without static checks as linter for PRs.

[juanmanso]

Regarding functionalities or additional blockers to the release, I'd say that:

• Initial implementation of miner selection criteria #92

doesn't block the release since the current selection criteria is implemented, we are only making it more performant right now IMO.

[obasilakis]

* Blocked by [Github action to deploy devnet (opentensor subtensor instance with a subnet) #111](https://github.com/masa-finance/masa-bittensor/issues/111)

@juanmanso this isn't a blocker since the users will use the already deployed devnet.

[juanmanso]

• Github action to deploy devnet (opentensor subtensor instance with a subnet) Github action to deploy devnet (opentensor subtensor instance with a subnet) #111

@obasilakis I would agree but afaik the ticket was meant to tackle updates also. It could be avoided if deployment of any updates is handled automatically for the time being

[obasilakis]

• Restart devnet for clean state
• Remove local state for:
  • miner
  • validator
  • protocol node
• Follow instructions in docs/setup to make sure everything is accurate and up-to-date

[juanmanso]

I'd say that the only thing remaining is the release notes.

Since development wasn't planned to be used as release notes (via PRs) maybe we can autogenerate it and then clean it up. Moreover, maybe we need to start it from scratch (hopefully not 🙏 )

[mudler]

• Restart devnet for clean state

• Remove local state for:

  • miner
  • validator
  • protocol node

@obasilakis can you expand on these items? would anyone in the team be able to pick these items up by reading this check list ? ( spoiler: I can't )

[obasilakis]

@mudler I created this list before I knew about the competition. it's deprecated now.

[mudler]

ok I'm even more confused now - what is the checklist? does this needs to be worked on? are we good with the current checklist?

[Luka-Loncar]

@obasilakis can we get some clarity here before you go to your days off?

[giovaroma]

Overlaps with ticket #20 regarding the checklist. Ticket #20 to be updated as we have a more clear understanding. For now its under waterline and this ticket is a dependency.

[grantdfoster]

Release Checklist

Security

• Ensure dependencies are up to date and there are no known vulnerabilities. Run pip list --outdated to see outdated dependencies. If any dependencies need upgrading (and are in fact upgraded), run pip freeze > requirements.txt to update the requirements!

Continuous Integration (CI)

• Ensure all CI tests are passing
  • Docker Build and Publish / check-and-build (subtensor)
  • Docker Build and Publish / check-and-build (subnet)
  • Docker Build and Publish / check-and-build (miner)
  • Docker Build and Publish / check-and-build (validator)
  • Docker Build and Publish / check-and-build (protocol)
    it is possible that we will de-couple the protocol CI build and check in future iterations

Issue Tracking

• Verify there are no blockers to the release
  a typical release will look like this, verify all issues are resolved!

Tagging

• Tag the masa-bittensor release, and ensure the latest tag is visible here

Release Notes

• Update release notes text. An example of a previous release is here, built off of the release.yml configuration here
• Ensure the latest release notes are captured here so they automatically get published to our dev docs.

Docker

• Confirm that Docker images are published correctly
  this was resolved in chore: debug publishing images #160 and should work automatically!

Documentation

• Ensure documentation is updated. This includes our setup documentation as well as advanced sections. All markdown files here are automatically pushed to our developer docs website. If certain documents do not appear, edit the sidebar here
• Review and update installation instructions if needed: Installation Guide

Notifications

• Notify @giovaroma and @lacyg4.