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Linkerd2 Release

This document contains instructions for releasing Linkerd2.

1. Bump the proxy version

Determine the commit SHA of the linkerd2-proxy repo to be included in the release. If proxy-version is already at the desired SHA, skip to step 2.

If updating to linkerd-proxy HEAD, note the commit SHA at latest.txt (Look for linkerd2-proxy-<linkerd2-proxy-sha>.tar.gz).

Create a new branch in the linkerd2 repo, username/proxy-version-bump.

Then run:

bin/git-commit-proxy-version <linkerd2-proxy-sha>

The script will update the .proxy-version file. Submit a PR to obtain reviews and approval.

2. Bump the proxy-init version

If the linkerd2/proxy-init project has a new release (which is rare), the following updates are needed:

  • go.mod

    github.com/linkerd/linkerd2-proxy-init v1.2.0

  • pkg/version/version.go (this also implies changes in unit test fixtures)

    var ProxyInitVersion = "v1.2.0"

  • charts/linkerd2/values.yaml

    Upgrade the version in global.proxyInit.image.version

Create a new branch in the linkerd2 repo, username/proxy-init-version-bump.

Open a pull request that includes the changes.

3. Create a minor releases branch

This step only applies to minor stable releases (e.g. 2.9.1).

If it doesn't exist yet, create and push a branch in the linkerd2 repo where all the minor releases for a given major release will reside:

git checkout -b release/2.9
git push -u origin release/2.9

The branch in the following step should be based off of this one.

4. Create the release branch

Create a branch in the linkerd2 repo, username/edge-X.X.X (replace with your name and the actual release number, optionally replace edge with stable).

5. Cherry pick changes from main

This step only applies to minor stable releases (e.g. 2.9.1).

Locate all the commits in the git log that happened since the last stable release, that you'd like to include in the current minor stable release, and cherry-pick each one into the current branch using their corresponding SHAs:

git cherry-pick ae34bcc2
git cherry-pick b34effab
git cherry-pick 223bd232
...

Each step might result in conflicts that you'll need to address.

6. Update the Helm charts versions

All the Helm charts (linkerd-crds, linkerd-control-plane, linkerd2-cni, linkerd-multicluster, linkerd-jaeger and linkerd-viz) have a version entry with a semver format major.minor.patch[-edge] that needs to be updated according to the following rules:

  • patch bump for minor changes
  • minor bump for additions/removals
  • major bump for backwards-incompatible changes, most notably changes that change the structure of values.yaml

Note that edge releases require the -edge suffix, which should be removed when releasing stable releases.

Also note that the appVersion entry (for those charts that have it) is handled automatically by CI.

Finally, keep in mind chart version changes require updating the charts README files (through bin/helm-docs) and golden files (through go test ./... -update).

linkerd-crds

Almost all the charts are always updated, at least because the docker image versions referred in their templates change with each release. One exception is linkerd-crds, which doesn't contain image references. So this chart only requires bumping its version if there were changes in its templates files.

7. Update the release notes

On this branch, add the release notes for this version in CHANGES.md.

Note: To see all of the changes since the previous release, run the command below in the linkerd2 repo. If the last release was a stable release, be sure to use stable-Y.Y.Y instead of edge-Y.Y.Y.

git log edge-Y.Y.Y..HEAD

And this command in the linkerd2-proxy repo:

git log release/vX.X.X..release/vY.Y.Y

Where release/vX.X.X is the version of the proxy from the last release and release/vY.Y.Y is the version of the proxy for this release, e.g.:

git log release/v2.102.0..release/v2.103.0

8. Post a PR that includes the changes

If you're preparing a minor release, make sure the PR's merge target is the releases branch you created above (e.g. releases/stable-2.9). For the other cases the target should just be main.

This PR needs an approval from a "code owner." Feel free to ping one of the code owners if you've gotten feedback and approvals from other team members.

9. Optional: push images

To facilitate testing (particularly for stable releases) you might want to publish the docker images in your private repo.

First tag the release:

git tag stable-2.9.1

Do not push this tag just yet, to avoid triggering the actual public release.

Make sure you're logged into your Github docker registry:

echo "$GH_PAT" | docker login ghcr.io -u $GH_USERNAME --password-stdin

Where $GH_USERNAME is your Github username and $GH_PAT is a personal access token with enough permissions for creating Github packages.

Then this will build the images and also push them to your personal Github docker registry (note this implies you've already set docker buildx in your machine, if not follow these instructions):

DOCKER_REGISTRY=ghcr.io/$GH_USERNAME DOCKER_MULTIARCH=1 DOCKER_PUSH=1 bin/docker-build

If this is the first time you push those images into your personal registry, you'll need to go to https://github.com/$GH_USERNAME?tab=packages and access the settings for each image in order to make them public.

After having successfully pushed those images, delete the tag so you can create it again and push it for good as explained in the following step.

Now testers can pull the CLI binaries through this:

DOCKER_REGISTRY=ghcr.io/$GH_USERNAME bin/docker-pull-binaries stable-2.9.1

which will dump them under the target/release directory.

Besides using those particular binaries to install Linkerd, they'll also need to point to your registry using the --registry flag. Currently that flag doesn't apply to add-ons, so you need to also recur to the --config flag. Currently that only applies to Grafana:

$ cat linkerd-overrides.yml
grafana:
  enabled: true
  image:
    name: ghcr.io/alpeb/grafana

$ target/release/linkerd2-cli-stable-2.9.1-darwin install --registry ghcr.io/$GH_USERNAME --config ~/tmp/linkerd-overrides.yml

10. Merge release notes branch, then create the release tag

After the review has passed and the branches from step 2 and 4 have been merged, follow the instructions below to properly create and push the release tag from the appropriate branch.

Note: The release script will create a GPG-signed tag, so users must have GPG signing setup in their local git config.

If performing an edge release then issue these commands. The appropriate tag will be automatically calculated:

git checkout main
git pull
./bin/create-release-tag edge

If performing a stable release then issue these commands instead (in this case you need to explicitly pass the version to be released):

git checkout main
git pull
./bin/create-release-tag stable x.x.x

In both cases follow the instructions on screen for pushing the tag upstream.

That will kick off a CI Release workflow run that will:

  • Build and push the docker images for the tag that was created
  • Run the k3d integration tests in the Github actions VMs themselves
  • Run a k3d integration test on a separate ARM64 host
  • Create a release in Github, and upload the CLI binaries with their checksums
  • Dispatch an event caught by the website repo that triggers a website rebuild which will update the edge/stable versions in the website
  • Retrieve the installation script from run.linkerd.io and verify it installs the current version being released
  • Deploy the updated helm charts

You can locate the CI run here.

11. Do a walkthrough verification of the release

Go to the release page in Github and check that the notes are properly formatted and the files are there. Download the file for your system along with its checksum, verify the checksum matches, and do a basic sanity check:

linkerd version
linkerd install | kubectl apply -f -
linkerd check
linkerd viz install | kubectl apply -f -
linkerd viz check
linkerd dashboard
  • Install linkerd onto your cluster, and run a few CLI commands
  • Open the dashboard and click around
  • Click through to Grafana
  • When finished with this step, you may want to delete your alias to prevent confusion later

12. Send the announcement email

Send an email to [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected], announcing the release.

Subscribe to these mailing lists if you aren't on them:

Include the full release notes in the email. Liberally apply emoji. ⭐

13. Send an announcement to Linkerd Slack's #announcements channel

Ensure that you send a brief summary of the release in Linkerd Slack's #announcement channel.

14. Add a community page announcement to the website repo

When doing a stable-X.X.X be sure to also include an announcement page for the Linkerd2 dashboard "Community" sidebar button.

In the website repo:

  1. Run hugo new --contentDir linkerd.io/content/dashboard/ YYYYMMDD.md
  2. Open the newly created file in your favorite editor and change the title to match the announcement email title.
  3. Remove the draft: true section in the file and then add a brief summary of the stable release.
  4. cd to the directory linkerd.io.
  5. Run hugo serve in the directory to test your changes.
  6. Verify your change by navigating to http://localhost:1313/dashboard. Make sure that the announcement appears at the top of the page.
  7. Once you are satisfied with your changes, Post the PR for review. Once merged, the change should deploy automatically.