First Steps

Determine Tag

The first step towards an official release is to determine the release tag. A tag is a numeric code that identifies the release, and is often referred to as a version string. A tag should have the format X.Y.Z where X, Y, and Z are integers identifying the release. The first release of a project should use the tag 1.0.0. Subsequent releases should follow the semantic versioning rules. You can find a complete guide to semantic versioning at SemVer.org, and the following paragraph summarizes key points:

In brief, X is the major version number, and should be changed when a new release breaks backwards compatibility. Y is the minor version number - you should increase Y when you add new features to the code. Z is the patch number. You should increase Z when release bug fixes or very minor changes for the project.

Warning

You should not actually create the tag at this point. Creating the tag is one of the final steps of the release process.

Note

The release tag should not begin with a v prefix. For example, 1.0.0 is an acceptable tag, but v1.0.0 is not.

Tip

Use 1.0.0 as the tag of your first release.

Domain Review

Next, you should conduct the domain review. Note that you should include the tag in the title of the issue thread documenting the domain review and reconciliation.