simplified release versioning process

Makefile

@@ -3,26 +3,19 @@
 GIT_VERSION ?= $(shell git log -1 --format="%h")
 RELEASE_TAG := $(shell git describe --abbrev=0 --tags ${TAG_COMMIT} 2>/dev/null || true)
 RELEASE_VERSION ?= $(shell cat VERSION)
-IS_NEW_RELEASE ?= true
 
 # are there uncommitted files?
 ifneq ($(shell git status --porcelain),)
 	# next is used by GoReleaser as well when --spanshot is set
   RELEASE_TAG := $(RELEASE_TAG)-next
   RELEASE_VERSION := $(RELEASE_VERSION)-dirty
-  IS_NEW_RELEASE := false
 endif
 
-# do we consider this to be a valid new release? Or are we working going forward?
-ifneq ($(shell git branch --show-current),master)
-  RELEASE_VERSION := $(RELEASE_VERSION)-next
-  IS_NEW_RELEASE := false
-else
-  ifeq ($(shell git diff HEAD~1 VERSION),)
-    RELEASE_VERSION := $(RELEASE_VERSION)-next
-    IS_NEW_RELEASE := false
-  endif
-endif
+# this is being kept, as in the future, we may check the diff of VERSION from the previous to determine
+# whether or not to cut a release, rather than relying on git tags
+#ifeq ($(shell git diff HEAD~1 VERSION),)
+#  RELEASE_VERSION := $(RELEASE_VERSION)-next
+#endif
 
 VERSION ?= $(RELEASE_VERSION)
 
@@ -310,9 +303,6 @@ $(MANAGERLESS_DIR) $(MANAGERLESS_BASE):
 
 .PHONY: semver release-clusterctl release-manifests release $(RELEASE_CLUSTERCTLYAML) $(RELEASE_MANIFEST) $(RELEASE_METADATA) $(RELEASE_CLUSTER_TEMPLATE) $(FULL_RELEASE_CLUSTERCTLYAML)
 
-check-release:
-	@echo $(IS_NEW_RELEASE)
-
 semver:
 ifeq (,$(VERSION))
 	$(error could not determine version to use from file, will not create artifacts)

docs/RELEASE.md

@@ -30,18 +30,8 @@ When building the manifests via `make manifests`, `make managerless`, or `make r
 
 * Take the version from the contents of [VERSION](./VERSION)
 * If there are any uncommitted files, append `-dirty`
-* If not on `master` branch, or if on `master` branch but the [VERSION](./VERSION) file is unchanged from the last commit on `master` branch, append `-next`
 
-The net of the above, is that the version will be treated as "clean" only when all of the following are true:
-
-* there are no "dirty" uncommitted files
-* the current commit is on `master` branch
-* the `VERSION` is different from the previous commit
-
-Thie encourages - requires - changes to a version, and therefore a release, to consist entirely of a single commit or merge to master,
-whose entire change is the `VERSION` file and, optionally, in the same commit, the `APIVERSION` file.
-
-To see what version you would get, run `make semver`. To see if this is a new release, run `make check-release`.
+To see what version you would get, run `make semver`.
 
 We are aware that this is a somewhat duplicative process, but there is no other way, as multiple stages
 depend on having the versions in checked-in files and do not support environment variable or command-line