releases: switch to alpha, beta, rcN flow

This way: 1. The quality of every release stage is clear. 2. We can invite users to run RCs in production because they're _actually_ RCs. And a bunch of other nits.

releases: switch to alpha, beta, rcN flow
This way: 1. The quality of every release stage is clear. 2. We can invite users to run RCs in production because they're _actually_ RCs. And a bunch of other nits.
ed326859 · Steven Allen · b786abea · ed326859 · ed326859
--- a/docs/RELEASE_TEMPLATE.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASE_TEMPLATE.md
+# Go-IPFS Changelog Template
+
+## X.Y.Z YYYY-MM-DD
+
+We're happy to announce go-ipfs X.Y.Z, bla bla...
+
+< release notes >
+
+### Contributors
+
+< list generated by bin/mkreleaselog >
+
+Would you like to contribute to the IPFS project and don't know how? Well, there are a few places you can get started:
+
+- Check the issues with the `help wanted` label in the [go-ipfs repo](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22help+wanted%22)
+- Join an IPFS All Hands, introduce yourself and let us know where you would like to contribute - https://github.com/ipfs/team-mgmt/#weekly-ipfs-all-hands
+- Hack with IPFS and show us what you made! The All Hands call is also the perfect venue for demos, join in and show us what you built
+- Join the discussion at http://discuss.ipfs.io/ and help users finding their answers.
+- Join the [Go Core Dev Team Weekly Sync](https://github.com/ipfs/team-mgmt/issues/650) and be part of the Sprint action!
+
+### ⁉️ Do you have questions?
+
+The best place to ask your questions about IPFS, how it works and what you can do with it is at [discuss.ipfs.io](http://discuss.ipfs.io). We are also available at the `#ipfs` channel on Freenode, which is also [accessible through our Matrix bridge](https://riot.im/app/#/room/#freenode_#ipfs:matrix.org).
+
+### Changelog
+
+< changelog generated by bin/mkreleaselog >
--- a/docs/releases.md
+++ b/docs/releases.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@

 ## Release Philosophy

-`go-ipfs` aims to have release every six weeks, two releases per quarter. During these 6 week releases, we go through 4 different stages of Release Candidates (RC) that gives us the opportunity to test the new version against our test environments (unit, interop, integration), QA in our current production environment, IPFS apps (e.g. Desktop and WebUI) and with our _early testers_<sup>[1]</sup> that have IPFS running in Production, by leveraging their own test infrastructure and QA systems.
+`go-ipfs` aims to have release every six weeks, two releases per quarter. During these 6 week releases, we go through 4 different stages that gives us the opportunity to test the new version against our test environments (unit, interop, integration), QA in our current production environment, IPFS apps (e.g. Desktop and WebUI) and with our community and _early testers_<sup>[1]</sup> that have IPFS running in Production.

 We might expand the six week release schedule in case of:
 - No new updates to be added
@@ -17,20 +17,43 @@ We might expand the six week release schedule in case of:

 ## Release Flow

-`go-ipfs` releases come in 4 stages:
+`go-ipfs` releases come in 4 stages designed to gradually roll out changes and reduce the impact of any regressions that may have been introduced.

- **Release Stage 1 - Internal testing** - Test the Release against our testing infrastructure, including interoperability, integration, test lab, multiple runtimes and the apps we've built (WebUI, Desktop, NPM on IPFS, HTTP Client Libraries). The intent is to make this stage fully automated (and somewhat is already), until then, we manually check a list and ensure that all tests have been run
- **Release Stage 2 - Invite _early testers_ to try it out** - Reach out to our _early testers_ (i.e. projects that have volunteered to support `go-ipfs` by using their own test infrastructure and tell us the results)
- **Release Stage 3 - Announce to the broader community** - Communicate to the community that a new Release Candidate is ready and that everyone is welcome to test it with us
- **Release Stage 4 - Complete the Release** - Finalize the release, start the next release.
+### Alpha

-The Release Stages are not linked to Release Candidate numbers, in fact, there can be multiple release candidate per stages as we catch bugs and improve the release itself.
+Before this stage, we expect _all_ tests (interop, testlab, performance, etc.) to pass.

-<p align="center">
-  <a href="https://ipfs.io">
-    <img src="https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/QmaFtLxoCAm5vFQ9AftKkhJwSAdDdF1jzV9DfzW6gbXqFL/Paper.Sketches.23.png" width="450" />
-  </a>
-</p>
+At this stage, we'll:
+
+1. Start a partial-rollout to our own infrastructure.
+2. Test against ipfs and ipfs-shipyard applications.
+
+**Goal(s):**
+
+1. Make sure we haven't introduced any obvious regressions.
+2. Test the release in an environment we can monitor and easily roll back (i.e., our own infra).
+
+### Beta
+
+At this stage, we'll announce the impending release to the community and ask for beta testers.
+
+**Goal:** Test the release in as many non-production environments as possible. This is relatively low-risk but gives us a _breadth_ of testing internal testing can't.
+
+### Release Candidate: Stage 1
+
+At this stage, we consider the release to be "production ready" and ask will ask our early testers to (partially) deploy the release to their production infrastructure.
+
+**Goal(s):**
+
+1. Test the release in some production environments with heavy workloads.
+2. Partially roll-out an upgrade to see how it affects the network.
+3. Retain the ability to ship last-minute fixes before the final release.
+
+### Release Candidate: Stage 2
+
+At this stage, the release is "battle hardened" and ready for wide deployment. We ask the wider community to deploy and test but expect no changes between this RC and the final release.
+
+**Goal:** Test the release on as many production workloads as possible while retaining the ability to ship last-minute fixes before the final release.

 ## Performing a Release

@@ -53,20 +76,23 @@ The first step is for the `Lead Maintainer` for `go-ipfs` to open an issue with 

 # ✅ Release Checklist

-For each RC published in each stage:
+For each pre-release published in each stage:
 - [ ] version string in `version.go` has been updated
- [ ] tag commit with vX.Y.Z-rcN
+- [ ] tag commit with vX.Y.Z-{alphaN,betaN,rcN}

-### Release Stage 1 - Internal testing
+### Alpha - Internal testing

-When Release Stage 1, there is a features freeze for the release branch.
+When releasing the first alpha, there is a features freeze for the release branch.

 - [ ] CHANGELOG.md has been updated
  - use `./bin/mkreleaselog` to generate a nice starter list
- [ ] Automated Testing - Ensure that all tests are passing, this includes:
+  - use `./doc/RELEASE_TEMPLATE.md` as a template
+- [ ] Automated Testing (already tested in CI) - Ensure that all tests are passing, this includes:
  - [ ] unit
  - [ ] sharness
  - [ ] [interop](https://github.com/ipfs/interop#test-with-a-non-yet-released-version-of-go-ipfs)
+  - [ ] go-ipfs-api
+  - [ ] go-ipfs-http-client
 - [ ] Network Testing:
  - [ ] test lab things
 - [ ] Infrastructure Testing:
@@ -74,37 +100,38 @@ When Release Stage 1, there is a features freeze for the release branch.
  - [ ] Deploy new version to a subset of Gateways
  - [ ] Deploy new version to a subset of Preload nodes
  - [ ] Collect metrics every day. Work with the Infrastructure team to learn of any hiccup
- [ ] IPFS HTTP Client Libraries Testing:
-  - [ ] [JS](http://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs-http-client)
-  - [ ] [Go](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs-api)
 - [ ] IPFS Application Testing -  Run the tests of the following applications:
  - [ ] WebUI
  - [ ] IPFS Desktop
  - [ ] IPFS Companion
  - [ ] NPM on IPFS

-### Release Stage 2 - Invite _early testers_ to try it out
+### Beta - Community Testing

- [ ] Reach out to the IPFS _early testers_ listed below for testing this release (check when no more problems have been reported).
-  - [ ] **COPY THE LIST FROM `docs/EARLY_TESTERS.md`**
- [ ] Run tests available in the following repos with the latest RC (check when all tests pass):
+- [ ] Reach out to the IPFS _early testers_ listed in `docs/EARLY_TESTERS.md` for testing this release (check when no more problems have been reported).
+- [ ] Reach out to on IRC for beta testers.
+- [ ] Run tests available in the following repos with the latest beta (check when all tests pass):
  - [ ] [orbit-db](https://github.com/orbitdb/orbit-db)

 PSA: If you are a heavy user of `go-ipfs`, have developed a solid test infrastructure for your application and would love to help us would like to help us test `go-ipfs` release candidates, reach out to go-ipfs-wg@ipfs.io.

-### Release Stage 3 - Announce to the broader community
+### Release Candidate - Stage 1 - Early Tester Production Testing

 - [ ] Documentation
  - [ ] Ensure that CHANGELOG.md is up to date
  - [ ] Ensure that README.md is up to date
  - [ ] Ensure that all the examples we have produced for go-ipfs run without problems
  - [ ] Update HTTP-API Documentation on the Website using https://github.com/ipfs/http-api-docs
- [ ] Invite the community through (link to the release issue):
+- [ ] Invite the IPFS _early testers_ to deploy the release to part of their production infrastructure.
+
+### Release Candidate - Stage 2 - Wider Production Testing
+
+- [ ] Invite the wider community through (link to the release issue):
  - [ ] [discuss.ipfs.io](https://discuss.ipfs.io/c/announcements)
  - [ ] Twitter
  - [ ] IRC
-
-### Release Stage 4 - Complete the Release
+  
+### Release

 - [ ] Final preparation
  - [ ] Verify that version string in `repo/version.go` has been updated
@@ -119,26 +146,6 @@ PSA: If you are a heavy user of `go-ipfs`, have developed a solid test infrastru
  - [ ] Reddit
  - [ ] [discuss.ipfs.io](https://discuss.ipfs.io/c/announcements)
  - [ ] Announce it on the [IPFS Users mlist](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ipfs-users)
-
-# ❤️ Huge thank you to everyone that made this release possible
-
-In alphabetical order, here are all the humans that contributed to the release:
-
- <use script -- listed in Release Stage 4 -- to generate a list of everyone that contributed for this release>
-
-# 🙌🏽 Want to contribute?
-
-Would you like to contribute to the IPFS project and don't know how? Well, there are a few places you can get started:
-
- Check the issues with the `help wanted` label in the [go-ipfs repo](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22help+wanted%22)
- Join an IPFS All Hands, introduce yourself and let us know where you would like to contribute - https://github.com/ipfs/team-mgmt/#weekly-ipfs-all-hands
- Hack with IPFS and show us what you made! The All Hands call is also the perfect venue for demos, join in and show us what you built
- Join the discussion at http://discuss.ipfs.io/ and help users finding their answers.
- Join the [Go Core Dev Team Weekly Sync](https://github.com/ipfs/team-mgmt/issues/650) and be part of the Sprint action!
-
-# ⁉️ Do you have questions?
-
-The best place to ask your questions about IPFS, how it works and what you can do with it is at [discuss.ipfs.io](http://discuss.ipfs.io). We are also available at the `#ipfs` channel on Freenode, which is also [accessible through our Matrix bridge](https://riot.im/app/#/room/#freenode_#ipfs:matrix.org).
 ```

 ## Release Version Numbers (aka semver)