---
title: etcd release guide
---

The guide talks about how to release a new version of etcd.

The procedure includes some manual steps for sanity checking but it can probably be further scripted. Please keep this document up-to-date if making changes to the release process. 

## Prepare release

Set desired version as environment variable for following steps. Here is an example to release 2.3.0:

```
export VERSION=v2.3.0
export PREV_VERSION=v2.2.5
```

All releases version numbers follow the format of [semantic versioning 2.0.0](http://semver.org/).

### Major, minor version release, or its pre-release

- Ensure the relevant milestone on GitHub is complete. All referenced issues should be closed, or moved elsewhere.
- Remove this release from [roadmap](https://github.com/coreos/etcd/blob/master/ROADMAP.md), if necessary.
- Ensure the latest upgrade documentation is available.
- Bump [hardcoded MinClusterVerion in the repository](https://github.com/coreos/etcd/blob/master/version/version.go#L29), if necessary.
- Add feature capability maps for the new version, if necessary.

### Patch version release

- Discuss about commits that are backported to the patch release. The commits should not include merge commits.
- Cherry-pick these commits starting from the oldest one into stable branch.

## Write release note

- Write introduction for the new release. For example, what major bug we fix, what new features we introduce or what performance improvement we make.
- Put `[GH XXXX]` at the head of change line to reference Pull Request that introduces the change. Moreover, add a link on it to jump to the Pull Request.
- Find PRs with `release-note` label and explain them in `NEWS` file, as a straightforward summary of changes for end-users.

## Tag version

- Bump [hardcoded Version in the repository](https://github.com/coreos/etcd/blob/master/version/version.go#L30) to the latest version `${VERSION}`.
- Ensure all tests on CI system are passed.
- Manually check etcd is buildable in Linux, Darwin and Windows.
- Manually check upgrade etcd cluster of previous minor version works well.
- Manually check new features work well.
- Add a signed tag through `git tag -s ${VERSION}`.
- Sanity check tag correctness through `git show tags/$VERSION`.
- Push the tag to GitHub through `git push origin tags/$VERSION`. This assumes `origin` corresponds to "https://github.com/coreos/etcd".

## Build release binaries and images

- Ensure `acbuild` is available.
- Ensure `docker` is available.

Run release script in root directory:

```
./scripts/release.sh ${VERSION}
```

It generates all release binaries and images under directory ./release.

## Sign binaries and images

etcd project key must be used to sign the generated binaries and images.`$SUBKEYID` is the key ID of etcd project Yubikey. Connect the key and run `gpg2 --card-status` to get the ID.

The following commands are used for public release sign:

```
cd release
for i in etcd-*{.zip,.tar.gz}; do gpg2 --default-key $SUBKEYID --armor --output ${i}.asc --detach-sign ${i}; done
for i in etcd-*{.zip,.tar.gz}; do gpg2 --verify ${i}.asc ${i}; done
```

The public key for GPG signing can be found at [CoreOS Application Signing Key](https://coreos.com/security/app-signing-key)


## Publish release page in GitHub

- Set release title as the version name.
- Follow the format of previous release pages.
- Attach the generated binaries, aci image and signatures.
- Select whether it is a pre-release.
- Publish the release!

## Publish docker image in Quay.io

- Push docker image:

```
docker login quay.io
docker push quay.io/coreos/etcd:${VERSION}
```

- Add `latest` tag to the new image on [quay.io](https://quay.io/repository/coreos/etcd?tag=latest&tab=tags) if this is a stable release.

## Announce to the etcd-dev Googlegroup

- Follow the format of [previous release emails](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/etcd-dev).
- Make sure to include a list of authors that contributed since the previous release - something like the following might be handy:

```
git log ...${PREV_VERSION} --pretty=format:"%an" | sort | uniq | tr '\n' ',' | sed -e 's#,#, #g' -e 's#, $##'
```

- Send email to etcd-dev@googlegroups.com

## Post release

- Create new stable branch through `git push origin ${VERSION_MAJOR}.${VERSION_MINOR}` if this is a major stable release. This assumes `origin` corresponds to "https://github.com/coreos/etcd".
- Bump [hardcoded Version in the repository](https://github.com/coreos/etcd/blob/master/version/version.go#L30) to the version `${VERSION}+git`.