Release Process

This page is intended for Release Managers and describes the release process used by Tenstorrent firmware.

Release Procedure

The following steps are required to be followed by firmware release engineers when creating a new Tenstorrent firmware release.

Release Checklist

Create an issue with the title Release Checklist v1.2.3. If the issue does not already exist, then create it using the previous release checklist as a template. The checklist will list the steps required before tagging a final release.

Tagging

Note

This section uses a fake release version, v1.2.3, or v1.2.3-rc1 as an example. Replace with the appropriate release candidate or final release version.

Important

Any changes to app/*/VERSION files is required to take place prior to the release process.

Update the version variables in the bundle version file VERSION file located in the root of the Git repository to match the version for this release. The EXTRAVERSION variable is used to identify release candidates. It is left empty for final releases.
```
EXTRAVERSION = rc1
```
Post a PR with the updated VERSION file using release: 1.2.3-rc1 or release: 1.2.3 as the commit subject. Merge the PR after CI is successful.

Tag and push the version, using an annotated tag:

git tag -s -m "tt-zephyr-platforms 1.2.3-rc1" v1.2.3-rc1

Verify that the tag has been signed correctly, git show for the tag must contain a signature (look for the BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE or BEGIN SSH SIGNATURE marker in the output):
```
git show v1.2.3-rc1
```

Push the tag:

git push git@github.com:tenstorrent/tt-zephyr-platforms.git v1.2.3-rc1

Lastly, for final releases,

Find the generated draft release, edit the release notes, and publish the release. It is recommended to copy the contents of doc/release/release-notes-1.2.3.md into the release-notes area.
Announce the release via official Tenstorrent channels and provide a link to the GitHub release page.

Publishing a Combined Firmware Bundle to `tt-firmware`

Make a pull request to tt-firmware with the new combined firmware bundle and accompanying required changes.

As part of the pull request:

Clone the tt-firmware repository (if it has not already been cloned).

if [ ! -d ~/tt-firmware ]; then
  git clone git@github.com:tenstorrent/tt-firmware.git ~/tt-firmware
  cd ~/tt-firmware
fi

Create a branch to make modifications for the release.
```
git checkout -b release-v1.2.3
```

Download the fw_pack-<version>.fwbundle file in the associated release.

wget https://github.com/tenstorrent/tt-zephyr-platforms/releases/download/v1.2.3/fw_pack-1.2.3.fwbundle

Change the latest.fwbundle symbolic link to point to the new firmware bundle and remove the older version, staging the files for commit.
```
git rm -f $(readlink latest.fwbundle) latest.fwbundle
ln -sf fw_pack-1.2.3.fwbundle latest.fwbundle
git add *.fwbundle
```
Edit the README.md file following the existing structure. Update the “Available Firmware” and “Release Notes” sections, staging the file for commit.
```
$EDITOR README.md
git add README.md
```

Make a signed commit (git commit -s) for the changes using the commit subject and body below.

release: fw bundle v1.2.3

Release FW Bundle v1.2.3

Signed-off-by: Your Name <your@email.com>

Create a pull request for the changes. After the PR has been merged, refresh the main branch, and tag the release with a signed commit.

git checkout main
git pull
git tag -s -m "tt-firmware 1.2.3" v1.2.3
git push git@github.com:tenstorrent/tt-firmware.git v1.2.3

Create a new tt-firmware release from the new tag by copying the contents of doc/release/release-notes-1.2.3.md into the release notes for the new tt-firmware release.