Release process

The release process is automated through a GitHub Action called release.yml. Here's a diagram of the workflows:

graph LR
    A[get_dry_release_versions] --> B[validate_version_bumps]
    B --> C[publish-web-ui-npm]
    C --> D[release]

The release step will trigger an automated chore commit by the CI-bot (example).

After the release step and release commit, the publish step will be triggered (example).

The publish worfklow triggers this flow:

graph TD
    A[publish.yml] -->|triggers| B[publish_python_sdk.yml]
    B -->|needs| C[publish_images.yml]
    B -->|needs| D[publish_helm_charts.yml]

    subgraph B[publish_python_sdk.yml]
        direction LR
        B1[Checkout code] --> B2[Set up Python] --> B3[Install dependencies] --> B4[Run tests] --> B5[Build wheels] --> B6[Publish to PyPI]
    end

    subgraph C[publish_images.yml]
        direction LR
        C1[Checkout code] --> C2[Set up Docker] --> C3[Build Docker images] --> C4[Push Docker images]
    end

    subgraph D[publish_helm_charts.yml]
        direction LR
        D1[Checkout code] --> D2[Set up Helm] --> D3[Package Helm charts] --> D4[Publish Helm charts]
    end

Release process

For Feast maintainers, these are the concrete steps for making a new release.

Note: Make sure you have a Personal Access Token or retrieve your saved personal access token.

If something goes wrong, investigate the workflow and try to rerun different pieces locally.

0. Cutting a minor release

You only need to hit the release workflow using the GitHub action. This is all you need to do. All deployments to dockerhub, PyPI, and npm are handled by the workflows.

Also note that as a part of the workflow, the infra/scripts/release/bump_file_versions.py file will increment the Feast versions in the appropriate files.

1. (for patch releases) Cherry-pick changes into the branch from master

If you were cutting Feast 0.22.3, for example, you might do:

1. git checkout v0.22-branch (or git pull upstream v0.22-branch --rebase if you've cut a release before)

2. git cherry-pick [COMMIT FROM MASTER]

3. git push upstream v0.22-branch to commit changes to the release branch

Note: if you're handling a maintenance release (i.e. an older version), semantic release may complain at you. See Sample PR to enable an older branch to cut releases.

After this step, you will have all the changes you need in the branch.

Note, for patches you do not need to run the bump_file_versions.py script.

2. Pre-release verification (currently broken)

A lot of things can go wrong. One of the most common is getting the wheels to build correctly (and not accidentally building dev wheels from improper tagging or local code changes during the release process). Another possible failure is that the Docker images might not build correctly.

We verify the building the wheels and Docker images in your fork of Feast, not the main feast-dev/feast repo.

2a. Verifying minor releases (e.g. v0.22.0)

1. Merge upstream master changes into your fork. Make sure you are running the workflow off of your fork!

2. Create a tag manually for the release on your fork. For example, if you are doing a release for version 0.22.0, create a tag by doing the following.

   • Checkout master branch and run git tag v0.22.0.

   • Run git push --tags to push the tag to your forks master branch.

   This is important. If you don't have a tag, then the wheels you build will be dev wheels, which we can't push. The release process will automatically produce a tag for you via Semantic Release.

3. Access the Actions tab on your GitHub UI on your fork and click the build_wheels action. This workflow will build the python sdk wheels for Python 3.8-3.10 on MacOS 10.15 and Linux and verify that these wheels are correct. It will also build the Docker images. The publish workflow uses this action to publish the python wheels for a new release to PyPI.

4. Look for the header This workflow has a workflow_dispatch event trigger and click Run Workflow on the right.

5. Run the workflow off of the tag you just created(v0.22.0 in this case, not the master branch) and verify that the workflow worked (i.e ensure that all jobs are green).

2. Release for Python and Java SDK

1. Generate a Personal Access Token or retrieve your saved personal access token.

   • The personal access token should have all of the permissions under the repo checkbox.

2. Access the Actions tab on the main feast-dev/feast repo and find the release action.

3. Look for the header This workflow has a workflow_dispatch event trigger again and click Run Workflow on the right.

   • If you are making a minor or major release, you should run it off of the master branch.

   • If you are making a patch release, run it off of the corresponding minor release branch.

4. Try the dry run first with your personal access token. If this succeeds, uncheck Dry Run and run the release workflow.

5. Then try running normally (without dry run).

   • First, the release workflow will kick off. This publishes an NPM package for the Web UI (NPM package), bumps files versions (e.g. helm chart, UI, Java pom.xml files), and generate a changelog using Semantic Release. All jobs should succeed.

   • Second, the publish workflow will kick off. This builds all the Python wheels (PyPI link, publishes helm charts, publishes the Python and Java feature servers to Docker (DockerHub images), publishes the Java Serving Client + Datatypes libraries to Maven (Maven repo)

6. Try to install the Feast Python release in your local environment and test out the feast init -> feast apply workflow to verify as a sanity check that the release worked correctly.

7. Verify the releases all show the new version:

   • NPM package

   • PyPI link

   • DockerHub images (Java + Python feature servers, feature transformation server)

   • Maven repo (feast-datatypes, feast-serving-client)

4. (for minor releases) Post-release steps

4a: Creating a new branch

Create a new branch based on master (i.e. v0.22-branch) and push to the main Feast repo. This will be where cherry-picks go for future patch releases and where documentation will point.

4b: Adding a high level summary in the GitHub release notes

By default, Semantic Release will pull in messages from commits (features vs fixes, etc). But this is hard to digest, so it helps to have a high level overview. See https://github.com/feast-dev/feast/releases for the releases.

4c: Update documentation

In the Feast Gitbook:

1. Create a new space within the Feast collection

2. Go to the overflow menu on the top -> Synchronize with Git

   1. Specify GitHub as the provider

      
   2. Configure to point to the new release branch

      
3. Publish the new page for this branch as part of the collection

   
4. Go back to the main Feast collection and go to the overflow menu -> "Customize collection"

   
5. Configure the default space to be your new branch and save

   
6. Verify on docs.feast.dev that this new space is the default (this may take a few minutes to propagate, and your browser cache may be caching the old branch as the default)