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 an script to generate commits. Always check that the commits are correct.

Important

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

Run scripts/update_versions.sh rc to increment the minor version of the FW, SMC and DMC, and to set EXTRAVERSION = rc1. Major version bumps or RC2 candidates must be done manually.

Below is an example of how each VERSION file should look after the script ran.
```
VERSION_MAJOR = 19
VERSION_MINOR = 4
PATCHLEVEL =
VERSION_TWEAK = 0
EXTRAVERSION = rc1
```
Post a PR with the updated VERSION files and merge 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,

Run scripts/update_versions.sh pre-release to set EXTRAVERSION back to blank. Post a PR and merge after CI is successful.
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.
Run scripts/update_versions.sh post-release to set PATCHLEVEL back to 99. Post a PR and merge after CI is successful.
Announce the release via official Tenstorrent channels and provide a link to the GitHub release page.
Run scripts/generate-release-docs.py to generate the release notes and migration guide files for the next release. Post a PR with the generated files and merge after CI is successful.

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.