buzz/RELEASING.md

Releasing Buzz

Buzz has three independent release lanes. Desktop and relay use release PRs. Mobile uses immutable release-candidate tags cut directly from remote main:

Lane	Entry point	Artifact
Desktop	Prepare Desktop Release	Packaged desktop app (signed/notarized macOS, unsigned Windows, and Linux)
Relay	just release-relay	ghcr.io/block/buzz container image
Mobile	scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate X.Y.Z	Exact mobile-vX.Y.Z-rc.N source identity

The lanes version independently. Desktop reads its manifests, relay reads its crate manifest, and mobile derives both source and marketing version from the exact candidate tag. The mobile handoff to the private buzz-releases pipeline remains manual because OSS CI cannot trigger private CI.

Quick Start

Desktop releases are prepared from the current remote main by GitHub Actions:

gh workflow run prepare-desktop-release.yml \
  --repo block/buzz \
  --ref main \
  -f version=0.5.3

The equivalent GitHub UI path is Actions → Prepare Desktop Release → Run workflow, select main, enter the version without a v prefix, and run it. The local just release-desktop <version> recipe uses the same candidate script, but the Actions workflow is the canonical operator path because it runs with the release App identity and does not depend on an operator checkout.

# Relay release
just release-relay
just release-relay 0.4.0

# Publish the next mobile candidate from the exact current remote main commit
scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate 0.5.0

Desktop uses an immutable generated candidate PR; relay continues using its metadata PR. Mobile does not. Each mobile-vX.Y.Z-rc.N tag is an immutable candidate and the artifact of record. There is no mobile release branch, stable mobile tag alias, finalization step, or mobile GitHub Release.

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How It Works

Desktop

1. Run Prepare Desktop Release with an explicit version. Automation fetches the current origin/main, regenerates version-bump/<version> as one deterministic candidate commit, records the frozen base and proposed desktop-v<version> tag in .release/desktop-candidate.json, updates every desktop manifest and lockfile, writes a full-SHA changelog, and opens or updates the PR.
2. Review the recorded base and candidate SHA, the complete changelog, and CI. The candidate must receive an approval on its exact current head. Any regeneration changes that head and therefore requires a fresh approval.
3. Merge with Create a merge commit. Squash and rebase are invalid for desktop release PRs. Repository settings and the main ruleset must allow merge commits for this option to exist.
4. auto-tag-on-release-pr-merge verifies the two-parent merge, exact candidate approval, and every required check, then tags the reviewed candidate—not the merge commit—as desktop-v<version>.
5. The tag triggers release.yml. It builds and stages Apple Silicon and Intel macOS, Windows, and Linux artifacts; publishes the versioned release only after the complete set succeeds; then updates the rolling updater manifest last for stable versions. A failed platform leaves no partially published versioned release.

Relay

1. just release-relay runs locally on main, creates or updates a relay-release/<version> PR, bumps crates/buzz-relay/Cargo.toml, regenerates Cargo.lock, and updates the relay changelog.
2. Merge the PR. auto-tag-on-release-pr-merge pushes relay-v<version>.
3. The tag triggers docker.yml. Stable releases update the version aliases and latest; prereleases do not. Each release also publishes an optimized, symbol-bearing image under matching debug- tags (for example, debug-0.3.0 and debug-latest) for native profiling. The ordinary tags remain stripped and are the default for deployments that do not need it.

Every push to main continues to publish the rolling relay :main and :sha-<7> tags, plus matching :debug-main and :debug-sha-<7> variants.

Mobile

1. Publish a candidate. From a clean checkout whose origin is the canonical block/buzz repository, run scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate X.Y.Z. The script resolves and fetches the exact current origin/main commit, derives the next number from exact remote tags for that marketing version, and publishes an annotated mobile-vX.Y.Z-rc.N tag there through the dedicated buzz-release-bot GitHub App. It never uses the operator's checked-out commit and never moves an existing candidate.
2. Build the exact tag. Enter the candidate tag as mobile_ref in the private Buzz mobile Buildkite pipeline. OSS CI deliberately cannot trigger that private pipeline. The tag supplies both source commit and release version. Flutter receives clean marketing version X.Y.Z; Buildkite's monotonically increasing build number supplies the platform build number.
3. Promote tested artifacts. Promote the already-built signed artifact for each platform through its store workflow. Record the exact tag with the build or rollout record. No source ref is changed and no final build is cut.

The iOS and Android artifacts for one marketing version may come from different RC tags. For example, iOS can ship mobile-v0.5.0-rc.2 while Android ships mobile-v0.5.0-rc.3. Each platform's exact candidate tag is its source record. There is intentionally no single selected or final candidate for the marketing version.

The simplification trades away a separate stabilization line. Unrelated commits that reach main become part of every later candidate, and there is no retained hotfix branch or branch-ancestry history. Add a dedicated hotfix flow later if a release actually needs isolation from main.

mobile/pubspec.yaml keeps 0.0.0+1 only as a valid, visibly non-release fallback for local development and validation builds. Release jobs always inject both version fields. mobile/CHANGELOG.md is retained as historical release data. It is not a release ledger for this flow.

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Version Sources

Lane	Release version authority
Desktop	desktop/package.json and synchronized desktop manifests
Relay	crates/buzz-relay/Cargo.toml
Mobile	Exact mobile-vX.Y.Z-rc.N remote tag

just bump-desktop-version <version> updates the desktop manifests and regenerates their lockfiles. just bump-relay-version <version> updates the relay crate and regenerates Cargo.lock. Mobile has no bump recipe or release-metadata PR.

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Signed macOS Canary

Use the manual Signed macOS Canary workflow when you need an Apple Silicon build of current main for explicit testing without publishing a release:

gh workflow run signed-macos-canary.yml --repo block/buzz --ref main

The workflow derives a -test.<run-number> version, signs and notarizes the DMG, verifies it with Gatekeeper, and uploads it as a short-lived Actions artifact with seven-day retention. Because this is a public repository, any signed-in GitHub user can download that artifact while it exists; it is unpublished, not private. The workflow has no release permissions, does not create or move tags, and cannot update buzz-desktop-latest or latest.json.

Download the artifact from the completed run:

gh run download <run-id> --repo block/buzz --name <artifact-name>

The workflow intentionally accepts only main. Use the normal release process for distributable builds or builds from an immutable release tag.

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Release Retry

release.yml has no manual dispatch and cannot build from main or another caller-selected ref. If a run for an existing immutable desktop-v<version> tag fails, rerun that failed workflow from GitHub Actions (or use gh run rerun <run-id> --failed --repo block/buzz). A stable rerun also repairs buzz-desktop-latest/latest.json if the original run published the versioned release but failed during that final rolling-manifest upload. Do not recreate, move, or push the immutable tag again.

Mobile intentionally has no branch or arbitrary-ref fallback. The private Buildkite pipeline accepts only an exact candidate tag.

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Internal Releases

For mobile, trigger the private Release Mobile pipeline with an exact RC tag for the platform build being cut. For desktop, use Release Desktop. See the buzz-releases README for the private pipeline contract.

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What Gets Published

Desktop publishes two GitHub releases:

1. desktop-v<version>: the user-facing release with installers.
2. buzz-desktop-latest: the rolling auto-updater release.

Mobile publishes only annotated mobile-vX.Y.Z-rc.N git tags. Store artifacts and rollout records retain the exact tag they used. Mobile does not publish a GitHub Release or a stable mobile-vX.Y.Z alias.

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Platform Support

The release workflow builds two separate macOS DMGs: Apple Silicon (darwin-aarch64, the release job) and Intel (darwin-x86_64, the release-macos-x64 job), an unsigned Windows x64 NSIS installer (its filename includes _alpha-unsigned), and Linux .deb and .AppImage packages. Both macOS DMGs are codesigned, notarized, and attached to the same desktop-v<version> release. Intel users download the _x64.dmg.

The Linux AppImage is post-processed by desktop/scripts/fix-appimage.sh, which strips infra libraries over-bundled by linuxdeploy (they crash on Mesa 25+ / GLib 2.88 distros; see tauri-apps/tauri#15665) and re-signs the artifact. As a result the AppImage relies on the host's Wayland/GStreamer/graphics stack and requires GLib >= 2.72 (Ubuntu 22.04 or newer). The release-linux job builds inside a ubuntu:22.04 container for broad GLIBC compatibility.

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Prerequisites

• Write access to the block/buzz GitHub repository
• An origin remote whose configured URL is the canonical block/buzz repository
• gh CLI version 2.87.0 or newer, authenticated with permission to dispatch the candidate workflow
• Repository settings and the main ruleset configured to allow merge commits; desktop release PRs cannot be squash- or rebase-merged
• Release tag ruleset 14378754 active for desktop-v* and mobile-v*, with creation, update, deletion, and non-fast-forward protections and buzz-release-bot as its sole always-bypass actor
• The buzz-release-bot App credentials configured for GitHub Actions
• The following GitHub Actions variables and secrets configured for the desktop release lane:

  Name	Kind	Purpose
  BUZZ_RELEASE_TAGGER_CLIENT_ID	Variable	GitHub App client ID used to prepare candidates and create tags
  BUZZ_RELEASE_TAGGER_PRIVATE_KEY	Secret	GitHub App private key
  OSX_CODESIGN_ROLE	Secret	macOS signing role used by block/apple-codesign-action
  CODESIGN_S3_BUCKET	Secret	macOS signing exchange bucket
  BUZZ_UPDATER_PUBLIC_KEY or SPROUT_UPDATER_PUBLIC_KEY	Secret	Tauri updater public key
  TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY	Secret	Tauri updater private key
  TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD	Secret	Password for the private key

Mobile candidate publication requires workflow-dispatch access and the existing release App because strict tag protection denies direct human creation. The App must be installed on block/buzz, have Contents write and Metadata read, and retain an always bypass on the immutable mobile-v* tag rules. It does not require GitHub Releases permissions, repository Administration permission, or a mobile release-branch ruleset. The publisher validates the App token's effective current_user_can_bypass value rather than reading the ruleset's hidden bypass actor list.

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Troubleshooting

The release PR does not offer Create a merge commit

The immutable desktop flow cannot release until both the repository merge settings and the main ruleset allow merge commits. Do not squash the PR: the auto-tagger deliberately rejects a one-parent squash commit. Enable merge commits, then merge the already-approved exact candidate head with Create a merge commit.

Prepare Desktop Release fails before opening a PR

Check the workflow run first. Confirm BUZZ_RELEASE_TAGGER_CLIENT_ID and BUZZ_RELEASE_TAGGER_PRIVATE_KEY are configured and that the release App can write contents and pull requests. Rerunning the preparer regenerates the candidate from the then-current origin/main; if its head changes, obtain a new approval before merging.

Local just release-desktop fails with "must be on main branch"

Switch to main and pull latest before running the release recipe.

Local just release-desktop fails with "working tree is dirty"

Commit or stash your changes before running the release recipe.

New commits land after publishing a mobile candidate

Run scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate <version> again after the intended fix reaches remote main. It publishes a new immutable RC tag at the new exact remote commit. Continue referring to each tested or shipped platform artifact by its own exact tag.

scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate fails because main moved during publication

The App-backed workflow may already have published the requested immutable RC at the prior main tip before the operator command detects the race. Do not move or delete that tag, and do not treat it as the candidate for current main. Inspect the run URL from the command output, then rerun scripts/mobile-release.sh candidate <version> to publish the next RC from the new current main tip.

A mobile candidate command selects the wrong RC number

Do not retry by moving or deleting a tag. Inspect the exact remote mobile-v* tags and resolve the unexpected state. Candidate numbers are monotonically increasing remote identities.

A mobile candidate publication is rejected by repository rules

Confirm buzz-release-bot remains the sole always-bypass actor for the active mobile-v* ruleset and that its Actions credentials are available. Do not grant direct human creation or weaken update or deletion protection. Existing candidate tags must remain immutable.

Auto-updater reports "no update available"

Verify that the buzz-desktop-latest release exists and contains a valid latest.json. The manifest covers all four platform keys (darwin-aarch64, darwin-x86_64, linux-x86_64, windows-x86_64); a missing entry usually means that platform's release job failed. Check the workflow run.