Backdrop 1.22.0 Release checklist

[quicksketch]

Scheduled for May 15, 2022 4am - 6pm PT

Pre-release tasks

• Merge minor release commits (BWPanda)
• Move all unfinished issues to the next bug-fix release milestone (BWPanda)
• Review all closed issues in milestone: (laryn)
  • Issue titles should include a complete, but very brief summary of the problem.
  • Issue titles should be in complete sentences, ending with a period.
  • Bug issue titles should start with Fix or Fixed,
  • New feature issue titles should start with Add or Added.
  • Each issue should have accurate labels, especially the "type - " labels.
• Close the milestone (laryn)
• Draft Release notes (laryn)
  • Copy Preview release release notes, update as follows
    • Include a short, descriptive summary of the release, for example:
      • The Backdrop community is proud to release version 1.xx of Backdrop CMS, following our 4-month release cycle.
    • Include a section heading **Notes for updating**
      • Note if any changes were made to files outside the core directory, for example:
        • No changes have been made to the .htaccess, robots.txt or default settings.php files in this release. Updating customized versions of those files is not necessary.
        • See this example for updates to .htaccess
        • See this example or this example for updates to settings.php
      • Note if updates (update.php) needs to be run, for example:
        • Use the text The database update script does **not** need to be run.
        • or **It will be necessary to run the update script** (located at /update.php) for this release.
    • Include a section heading **Changes since version 1.xx.x** are listed below.
      • Navigate to Actions
      • Select the most recent time "Release Notes Generator" has been run.
      • Download the release-notes artifact attached to the generator.
      • Unzip the file, and copy/pate contents into release notes draft.
      • Re-word issue titles to indicate that the problems have been fixed.
      • Note: This list can also be copied from the list on the preview release, but review closed issuses in the milestone
    • Verify the list above matches all changes since the most recent bug-fix release

Release tasks (herbdool)

• Update bootstrap.inc with version number
• Tag for release, and push tag to GitHub
• Branch for new minor number (e.g. 1.10.x) and push to GitHub
• Revert version number back on 1.x branch with minor number increased (e.g. 1.11.x-dev
• Revert version number back on new minor number branch (e.g. 1.10.x-dev)
• Create release notes on GitHub, and publish release (herbdool)
• Unpublish preview release on backdropcms.org (stpaultim)
• Update the front page download link on b.org (stpaultim)
• Update the roadmap page on b.org (stpaultim)
• Create a new language template file for the translation server (@olafgrabienski - see Add core releases and source files backdrop-ops/localize.backdropcms.org#27 until this is automated)

Immediate Post-release tasks

Code tasks

• Update Tugboat @BWPanda
• Update Platform.sh (assign to serundeputy / jenlampton)
• Update Composer (assign to quicksketch / serundeputy / herbdool)
• Update Docker (assign to ??? -- volunteer neeed)
• Update Pantheon (@herbdool)
• update docs.backdropcms.org to latest version @jenlampton

Publicity tasks

• Add a notification to the dashboard (@stpaultim)
• Tweet that a new release is out (@stpaultim)
  • Use text like "We're thrilled to announce Backdrop version 1.18.0. This is the 19th new feature release of #BackdropCMS. https://backdropcms.org"
• Publish blog post (@stpaultim)
• email katie@phpweekly.com for a note in the PHP Weekly Newsletter (assign to stpaultim / tomgrandy / klonos / jenlampton)
• Update the Wikipedia articles (stpaultim)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdrop_CMS
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems

Backdrop Website updates

• docs.backdropcms.org (assign to @jenlampton / @bwpanda / @bugfolder)
• events.backdropcms.org (assign to @jenlampton / @bwpanda / @bugfolder)

2-week Post-release tasks

These should be done after the first bug-fix release or 14 days -- whichever
comes sooner.

Publicity tasks

• Send a newsletter to subscribers (assign to @bwpanda / stpaultim / jenlampton)

Backdrop Website updates

• backdropcms.org (assign to @jenlampton / @bwpanda / @bugfolder)
• forum.backdropcms.org (assign to @jenlampton / @bwpanda / @bugfolder)

See Also

• Backdrop 1.21.5 Release Checklist #5616

[laryn]

Draft release notes:

---

The Backdrop community is pleased present the 1.22.0 release.

Notes for updating

• Note that the .htaccess file has been modified in this release compared with 1.21.4. It is suggested to copy changes from this latest version into your copy.
• No changes have been made to the robots.txt or default settings.php files in this release. Updating customized versions of those files is not necessary.
• It will be necessary to run the update script (located at /update.php) for this release.

Very important: This version of Backdrop now requires PHP 5.6 or higher. Previous versions of Backdrop supported anything from 5.3 or higher, so if your site is running one of these very old installations of PHP, you will need to upgrade your server prior to upgrading.

Changes since version 1.21.4 are listed below.

New features

• Provide "Cards" by default – a new hidden-path content type (for new installations). #4903
• Add a new component to the Admin Bar with information about the current page. #2626
• Allow blocks to be disabled in Layouts. #1936
• Configure default date formats based on timezone/country (for new installations). #4645
• Add a new cropped image style specifically for cards (for new installations). #5607
• Add the ability to enable Backdrop-only required modules during an upgrade from Drupal 7. #5499
• Add a warning flag in the Status report if there are duplicate copies of a module. #5464
• Add various UI improvements in the Book module. #5331
• Add a link in the module browser to each module's BackdropCMS.org project page. #5003
• Add a setting to specify which Views display(s) get created by default. #2978

Bug fixes

• Fix incorrect links to GitHub in module browser for core modules. #5623
• Fix views-related tests after recent changes for default Cards functionality. #5615
• Fix default sort order for front page card view. #5608
• Fix extraneous gray stripe left over when removing Cards grid. #5599
• Fix output buffer notices. #5594

Miscellaneous changes

• Add new screenshot for Basis which includes the new Cards content. #5621
• Remove unnecessary path pattern for Cards. #5597
• Add description text to the 'Administer custom blocks' permission. #5544
• Drop support for PHP versions less than 5.6. #3992
• Separate "Administer comments and comment settings" into two distinct permissions. #336

[quicksketch]

Great work folks! I'm super appreciative to @stpaultim, @herbdool, @laryn, and @BWPanda for coordinating and creating both the 1.22.0 and the 1.21.4 release!

[herbdool]

Thanks for the comprehensive steps @quicksketch. That helped quite a bit.

[jenlampton]

I've updated the docs site and the events site to 1.22.0.

edit: I've also committed core updates to www and forum (and tested locally) but if we make a new bug-fix release in the next few weeks we may want to update those again.

[jenlampton]

I've updated the main site and the forum site to 1.22.0.