Binaries
Tag the Release
Build the Release
Check the release logs
Merge the releases.json change
Package managers which include minikube
Verification
Update docs
Announce
minikube on Slack

Binaries

How to release minikube binaries

Preparation

Announce release intent on #minikube
Pause merge requests so that they are not accidentally left out of the ISO or release notes
Two minikube repos checked out locally:
- Your personal fork
- Upstream

Update the Kubernetes version

Run make update-kubernetes-version from your local upstream repo copy
If any files are updated, create and merge a PR before moving forward

Build a new ISO

All non-patch releases require a new ISO to be built.
Patch releases (vx.x.1+) require a new ISO if the deploy/iso directory has seen changes since the previous release.

See ISO release instructions

Release new kicbase image

Run the kic-release job in Jenkins, which will automatically create a PR which must be merged (make sure to enter the correct version and repos).

Update Release Notes

Run the following script from your local upstream repo copy to generate updated release notes:

hack/release_notes.sh

Paste the output into CHANGELOG.md, sorting changes by importance to an end-user. If there are >8 changes, split them into Improvements and Bug fixes

The changelog should only contain user facing change. This means removing PR’s for:
- Documentation
- Low-risk refactors
- Test-only changes
Remove bots from the contributor list
Remove duplicated similar names from the contributor list

You may merge this PR at any time, or combine it with a Makefile update PR.

Update Makefile

Update the version numbers in Makefile:

VERSION_MAJOR, VERSION_MINOR, VERSION_BUILD
ISO_VERSION:
- beta releases use: v$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR).$(VERSION_BUILD)
- major/minor releases use: v$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR).0
- if the ISO was updated, a patch release may use v$(VERSION_MAJOR).$(VERSION_MINOR).$(VERSION_BUILD)
DEB_REVISION, RPM_REVISION
- for all major/minor releases, set to 0
- if updating .deb/.rpm files without a major/minor release, increment by 1

Warning

Merge this PR only if all non-experimental integration tests pass!

Tag the Release

sh hack/tag_release.sh 1.<minor>.<patch>

Build the Release

This step uses the git tag to publish new binaries to GCS and create a github release:

Navigate to the minikube “Release” jenkins job
Ensure that you are logged in (top right)
Click “▶️ Build with Parameters” (left)
VERSION_MAJOR, VERSION_MINOR, and VERSION_BUILD should reflect the values in your Makefile
For ISO_SHA256, run: gsutil cat gs://minikube/iso/minikube-v<version>.iso.sha256
Click Build

Check the release logs

After job completion, click “Console Output” to verify that the release completed without errors. This is typically where one will see brew automation fail, for instance.

Note: If you are releasing a beta, you are done when you get here.

Merge the releases.json change

The release script updates https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases.json - which is used by the minikube binary to check for updates, and is live immediately.

minikube-bot will also send out a PR to merge this into the tree. Please merge this PR to keep GCS and Github in sync.

Package managers which include minikube

These are downstream packages that are being maintained by others and how to upgrade them to make sure they have the latest versions

Package Manager	URL	TODO
Arch Linux AUR	https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/minikube-bin/	“Flag as package out-of-date”
Brew Cask	https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-cask/tree/master/Casks	The release job creates a new PR in Homebrew/homebrew-cask with an updated version and SHA256, double check that it’s created.

WARNING: The Brew cask automation is error-prone. please ensure that a PR was created.