Create Release Branch

A single release branch is created for every major or minor release (not for patch releases). That release branch is then used for all the Stable Releases, and all Patch Releases for that major and minor versions of the Grafana Loki.

Before you begin

1. Determine the VERSION_PREFIX.
2. Announce about the upcoming release in #loki-releases internal slack channel.
3. Skip this announcement for a patch release. Create an issue to communicate beginning of the release process with the community. Example issue here.

Steps

1. Determine which commit should be used as a base for the release branch. Usually this is a kxx weekly release branch.

2. Create and push the release branch from the selected base commit:

   The name of the release branch should be release-VERSION_PREFIX, such as release-2.9.x.

   {{< admonition type="note" >}} Branches are only made for VERSION_PREFIX; do not create branches for the full VERSION such as release-2.9.1. {{< /admonition >}}

   {{< admonition type="note" >}} Don't create any other branches that are prefixed with release when creating PRs or those branches will collide with our automated release build publish rules. {{< /admonition >}}

3. Create a label to make backporting PRs to this branch easy.

   The name of the label should be backport release-VERSION_PREFIX, such as backport release-2.9.x.

   {{< admonition type="note" >}} Note there is space in the label name. The label name must follow this naming convention to trigger CI related jobs. {{< /admonition >}}