This document details the steps for releasing the Apache Pulsar Helm Chart.

Prepare the Apache Pulsar Helm Chart Release Candidate

Prerequisites

Helm version >= 3.10.0
Helm gpg plugin (one option: https://github.com/technosophos/helm-gpg)

Build Release Notes

Before creating the RC, you need to build and commit the release notes for the release.

Build RC artifacts

The Release Candidate artifacts we vote upon should be the exact ones we vote against, without any modification than renaming – i.e. the contents of the files must be the same between voted release candidate and final release. Because of this the version in the built artifacts that will become the official Apache releases must not include the rcN suffix.

Set environment variables

# Set Version
export VERSION_RC=3.0.0-candidate-1
export VERSION_WITHOUT_RC=${VERSION_RC%-candidate-*}
# set your ASF user id
export APACHE_USER=<your ASF userid>

Clone clean repository and set PULSAR_REPO_ROOT

git clone https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart.git
cd pulsar-helm-chart
export PULSAR_REPO_ROOT=$(pwd)

Alternatively (not recommended), go to your already checked out pulsar-helm-chart directory and ensure that it's clean

git checkout master
git fetch origin
git reset --hard origin/master
# clean the checkout
git clean -fdX .
export PULSAR_REPO_ROOT=$(pwd)

Update Helm Chart version in Chart.yaml, example: version: 1.0.0 (without the RC tag). Verify that the appVersion matches the values.yaml versions for Pulsar components.
```
yq -i '.version=strenv(VERSION_WITHOUT_RC)' charts/pulsar/Chart.yaml
```

Add and commit the version change.

git add charts/pulsar/Chart.yaml
git commit -m "Chart: Bump version to $VERSION_WITHOUT_RC"
git push origin master

Note: You will tag this commit, you do not need to open a PR for it.

Tag your release

git tag -s pulsar-${VERSION_RC} -m "Apache Pulsar Helm Chart $VERSION_RC"

Tarball the repo

NOTE: Make sure your checkout is clean at this stage - any untracked or changed files will otherwise be included in the file produced.

git archive --format=tar.gz pulsar-${VERSION_RC} --prefix=pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}/ \
    -o pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz .

Generate chart binary

helm package charts/pulsar --dependency-update

Sign the chart binary

In the following command, replace the email address with your email address or your KEY ID so GPG uses the right key to sign the chart. (If you have not generated a key yet, generate it by following instructions on http://www.apache.org/dev/openpgp.html#key-gen-generate-key)
```
helm gpg sign -u $APACHE_USER@apache.org pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz
```
Warning: you need the helm gpg plugin to sign the chart. It can be found at: https://github.com/technosophos/helm-gpg

This should also generate a provenance file (Example: pulsar-1.0.0.tgz.prov) as described in https://helm.sh/docs/topics/provenance/, which can be used to verify integrity of the Helm chart.

Verify the signed chart:
```
helm gpg verify pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz
```
Example output:
```
gpg: Signature made Thu Oct 20 16:36:24 2022 CDT
gpg:                using RSA key BD4291E509D771B79E7BD1F5C5724B3F5588C4EB
gpg:                issuer "mmarshall@apache.org"
gpg: Good signature from "Michael Marshall <mmarshall@apache.org>" [ultimate]
plugin: Chart SHA verified. sha256:deb035dcb765b1989ed726eabe3d7d89529df05658c8eec6cdd4dc213fa0513e
```

Generate SHA512/ASC

${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}/scripts/sign.sh pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz
${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}/scripts/sign.sh pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz

Move the artifacts to ASF dev dist repo, generate convenience index.yaml & publish them

# Create new folder for the release
svn mkdir --username $APACHE_USER -m "Add directory for pulsar-helm-chart $VERSION_RC release" https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_RC
# checkout the directory
svn co --username $APACHE_USER https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_RC helm-chart-$VERSION_RC

# Move the artifacts to svn folder
mv ${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}/pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz* helm-chart-${VERSION_RC}/
mv ${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}/pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz* helm-chart-${VERSION_RC}/
cd helm-chart-${VERSION_RC}/

###### Generate index.yaml file - Start
# Download the latest index.yaml on Pulsar Website
curl https://pulsar.apache.org/charts/index.yaml --output index.yaml

# Replace the URLs from "https://downloads.apache.org" to "https://archive.apache.org"
# as the downloads.apache.org only contains latest releases.
sed -i 's|https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/|https://archive.apache.org/dist/pulsar/helm-chart/|' index.yaml

# Generate / Merge the new version with existing index.yaml
helm repo index --merge ./index.yaml . --url "https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_RC}"

###### Generate index.yaml file - End

# Commit the artifacts
svn add *
svn commit -m "Add artifacts for Helm Chart ${VERSION_RC}"

Remove old Helm Chart versions from the dev repo

First check if this is required by viewing the versions available at https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart

export PREVIOUS_VERSION_RC=3.0.0-candidate-1
svn rm --username $APACHE_USER -m "Remove old Helm Chart release: ${PREVIOUS_VERSION_RC}" https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/${PREVIOUS_VERSION_RC}

Push Tag for the release candidate

cd ${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}
git push origin tag pulsar-${VERSION_RC}

Create release notes for the release candidate in GitHub UI

# open this URL and create release notes by clicking "Create release from tag"
echo https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart/releases/tag/pulsar-${VERSION_RC}

Open the above URL in a browser and create release notes by clicking "Create release from tag".
Find "Previous tag: auto" in the UI above the text box and choose the previous release there.
Click "Generate release notes".
Review the generated release notes.
Select "Set as a pre-release"
Click "Publish release".

Prepare Vote email on the Apache Pulsar release candidate

Send out a vote to the dev@pulsar.apache.org mailing list:

Tip

The template output will get copied to the clipboard using pbpaste. On Linux, you can install xsel and add alias pbcopy='xsel --clipboard --input' to the shell.

Subject:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
[VOTE] Release Apache Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} based on ${VERSION_RC}
EOF

Body:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
Hello Apache Pulsar Community,

This is a call for the vote to release the Apache Pulsar Helm Chart version ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.

Release notes for $VERSION_RC:
https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart/releases/tag/pulsar-$VERSION_RC

The release candidate is available at:
https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_RC/

pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz - is the "main source release".
pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz - is the binary Helm Chart release.

Public keys are available at: https://www.apache.org/dist/pulsar/KEYS

For convenience "index.yaml" has been uploaded (though excluded from voting), so you can also run the below commands.

helm repo add --force-update apache-pulsar-dist-dev https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_RC/
helm repo update
helm install pulsar apache-pulsar-dist-dev/pulsar --version ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} --set affinity.anti_affinity=false

pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz.prov - is also uploaded for verifying Chart Integrity, though it is not strictly required for releasing the artifact based on ASF Guidelines. 

You can optionally verify this file using this helm plugin https://github.com/technosophos/helm-gpg, or by using helm --verify (https://helm.sh/docs/helm/helm_verify/).

helm fetch --prov apache-pulsar-dist-dev/pulsar
helm plugin install https://github.com/technosophos/helm-gpg
helm gpg verify pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz

The vote will be open for at least 72 hours.

Only votes from PMC members are binding, but members of the community are
encouraged to test the release and vote with "(non-binding)".

For license checks, the .rat-excludes files is included, so you can run the following to verify licenses (just update $PATH_TO_RAT):

tar -xvf pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz
cd pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}
java -jar $PATH_TO_RAT/apache-rat-0.15/apache-rat-0.15.jar . -E .rat-excludes

Please note that the version number excludes the \`-candidate-X\` string, so it's now
simply ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}. This will allow us to rename the artifact without modifying
the artifact checksums when we actually release it.

Thanks,
<your name>
EOF

Note, you need to update the helm gpg verify output and verify the end of the voting period in the body.

Note about `helm gpg` vs `helm --verify`

Helm ships with a gpg verification tool, but it appears not to work with the currently used format for our KEYS file.

Verify the release candidate by the PMC

The PMC should verify the releases in order to make sure the release is following the Apache Legal Release Policy.

At least 3 (+1) votes from PMC members should be recorded in accordance to Votes on Package Releases

The legal checks include:

checking if the packages are present in the right dist folder on svn
verifying if all the sources have correct licences
verifying if release manager signed the releases with the right key
verifying if all the checksums are valid for the release

SVN check

The files should be present in the sub-folder of Pulsar dist

The following files should be present (7 files):

pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}-source.tar.gz + .asc + .sha512
pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz + .asc + .sha512
pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz.prov

As a PMC member you should be able to clone the SVN repository:

svn co https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart

Or update it if you already checked it out:

svn update .

Licence check

This can be done with the Apache RAT tool.

Download the latest jar from https://creadur.apache.org/rat/download_rat.cgi (unpack the binary, the jar is inside)
Unpack the release source archive (the <package + version>-source.tar.gz file) to a folder
Enter the sources folder run the check

java -jar $PATH_TO_RAT/apache-rat-0.15/apache-rat-0.15.jar pulsar-chart-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} -E .rat-excludes

where .rat-excludes is the file in the root of git repo.

Signature check

Make sure you have imported into your GPG the PGP key of the person signing the release. You can find the valid keys in KEYS.

You can import the whole KEYS file:

gpg --import KEYS

You can also import the keys individually from a keyserver. The below one uses a key and retrieves it from the default GPG keyserver OpenPGP.org:

gpg --keyserver keys.openpgp.org --receive-keys <some_key>

You should choose to import the key when asked.

Note that by being default, the OpenPGP server tends to be overloaded often and might respond with errors or timeouts. Many of the release managers also uploaded their keys to the GNUPG.net keyserver, and you can retrieve it from there.

gpg --keyserver keys.gnupg.net --receive-keys <some_key>

Once you have the keys, the signatures can be verified by running this:

for i in *.asc
do
   echo -e "Checking $i\n"; gpg --verify $i
done

This should produce results similar to the below. The "Good signature from ..." is indication that the signatures are correct. Do not worry about the "not certified with a trusted signature" warning. Most of the certificates used by release managers are self-signed, and that's why you get this warning. By importing the key either from the server in the previous step or from the KEYS page, you know that this is a valid key already.

SHA512 sum check

Run this:

for i in *.sha512
do
    echo "Checking $i"; shasum -a 512 `basename $i .sha512 ` | diff - $i
done

You should get output similar to:

Checking pulsar-1.0.0.tgz.sha512
Checking pulsar-chart-1.0.0-source.tar.gz.sha512

Verify release candidates by Contributors

Contributors can run below commands to test the Helm Chart

export VERSION_RC=3.0.0-candidate-1
export VERSION_WITHOUT_RC=${VERSION_RC%-candidate-*}
helm repo add --force-update apache-pulsar-dist-dev https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_RC/
helm repo update
helm install pulsar apache-pulsar-dist-dev/pulsar --version ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} --set affinity.anti_affinity=false

You can then perform any other verifications to check that it works as you expected by upgrading the Chart or installing by overriding default of values.yaml.

Publish the final release

Summarize the voting for the release

Once the vote has been passed, you will need to send a result vote to dev@pulsar.apache.org:

Subject:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
[RESULT][VOTE] Release Apache Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} based on ${VERSION_RC}
EOF

Message:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
Hello all,

The vote to release Apache Pulsar Helm Chart version ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} based on ${VERSION_RC} is now closed.

The vote PASSED with X binding "+1", Y non-binding "+1" and 0 "-1" votes:

"+1" Binding votes:

  - <name>

"+1" Non-Binding votes:

  - <name>

I'll continue with the release process and the release announcement will follow shortly.

Thanks,
<your name>
EOF

Publish release to SVN

Set environment variables

export VERSION_RC=3.0.0-candidate-1
export VERSION_WITHOUT_RC=${VERSION_RC%-candidate-*}
export APACHE_USER=<your ASF userid>

Migrating the approved RC artifacts to the release directory: https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/

svn commands for handling this:

svn rm --username $APACHE_USER -m "Remove temporary index.yaml file" https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_RC}/index.yaml
svn move --username $APACHE_USER -m "Release Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} from ${VERSION_RC}" \
  https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/dev/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_RC} \
  https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}

Verify that the packages appear in Pulsar Helm Chart.

Publish release tag

Create and push the release tag:

cd "${PULSAR_REPO_ROOT}"
git checkout pulsar-${VERSION_RC}
git tag -s pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} -m "Apache Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}"
git push origin pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}

Update index.yaml

The index.yaml file is the way helm users discover the binaries for the helm distribution. We currently host the file at pulsar.apache.org/charts/index.yaml.

Then, run the following command from within github.com/apache/pulsar-site in the git repo.

# checkout pulsar-site
git clone https://github.com/apache/pulsar-site
cd pulsar-site

# Run on a branch based on main branch
cd static/charts
# need the chart file temporarily to update the index
wget https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}/pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz
# store the license header temporarily
head -n 17 index.yaml > license_header.txt
# update the index
helm repo index --merge ./index.yaml . --url "https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}"
# restore the license header
mv index.yaml index.yaml.new
cat license_header.txt index.yaml.new > index.yaml
rm license_header.txt index.yaml.new
# remove the temp file
rm pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}.tgz

Verify that the updated index.yaml file has the most recent version. Then run:

git add index.yaml
git commit -m "Adding Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} to index.yaml"

Then open a PR.

Create release notes for the tag in GitHub UI

# open this URL and create release notes by clicking "Create release from tag"
echo https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart/releases/tag/pulsar-${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC}

Open the above URL in a browser and create release notes by clicking "Create release from tag".
Find "Previous tag: auto" in the UI above the text box and choose the previous release there.
Click "Generate release notes".
Review the generated release notes.
Click "Publish release".

Notify developers of release

Once the index.yaml is live on the website, it is time to announce the release.

Notify users@pulsar.apache.org (cc'ing dev@pulsar.apache.org) that the artifacts have been published:

Subject:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
[ANNOUNCE] Apache Pulsar Helm Chart version ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} Released
EOF

Body:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
Dear community,

The Apache Pulsar team is pleased to announce the release of the Apache
Pulsar Helm Chart $VERSION_WITHOUT_RC.

The official source release, as well as the binary Helm Chart release,
are available at
https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC/.

The helm chart index at https://pulsar.apache.org/charts/ has been
updated and the release is also available directly via helm.

Release Notes:
https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart/releases/tag/pulsar-$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC
Docs: https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart#readme and https://pulsar.apache.org/docs/helm-overview
ArtifactHub: https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/apache/pulsar/$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC

Thanks to all the contributors who made this possible.

Regards,

The Apache Pulsar Team
EOF

Send the same email to announce@apache.org. It is more reliable to send it via the web ui at https://lists.apache.org/list.html?announce@apache.org (press "c" to compose a new thread).

Create release on GitHub

Create a new release on GitHub with the release notes and assets from the release svn.

Close the milestone

Close the milestone on GitHub. Create the next one if it hasn't been already.

Announce the release on the community slack

Post this in the #announce channel:

tee >(pbcopy) <<EOF
We've just released Apache Pulsar Helm Chart ${VERSION_WITHOUT_RC} 🎉

The official source release, as well as the binary Helm Chart release,
are available at
https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC/.

The helm chart index at https://pulsar.apache.org/charts/ has been
updated and the release is also available directly via helm.

Release Notes:
https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart/releases/tag/pulsar-$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC
Docs: https://github.com/apache/pulsar-helm-chart#readme and https://pulsar.apache.org/docs/helm-overview
ArtifactHub: https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/apache/pulsar/$VERSION_WITHOUT_RC

Thanks to all the contributors who made this possible.
EOF

Maintaining svn https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/ content

The chart references the files in https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/ which are maintained by SVN directory https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/.

If you remove releases from this directory, the URLs in index.yaml should be updated point to the https://archive.apache.org/dist/pulsar/helm-chart/ URL base instead of https://downloads.apache.org/pulsar/helm-chart/.

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RELEASE.md

RELEASE.md

Prepare the Apache Pulsar Helm Chart Release Candidate

Prerequisites

Build Release Notes

Build RC artifacts

Create release notes for the release candidate in GitHub UI

Prepare Vote email on the Apache Pulsar release candidate

Note about `helm gpg` vs `helm --verify`

Verify the release candidate by the PMC

SVN check

Licence check

Signature check

SHA512 sum check

Verify release candidates by Contributors

Publish the final release

Summarize the voting for the release

Publish release to SVN

Publish release tag

Update index.yaml

Create release notes for the tag in GitHub UI

Notify developers of release

Create release on GitHub

Close the milestone

Announce the release on the community slack

Maintaining svn https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/ content

Files

RELEASE.md

Latest commit

History

RELEASE.md

File metadata and controls

Prepare the Apache Pulsar Helm Chart Release Candidate

Prerequisites

Build Release Notes

Build RC artifacts

Create release notes for the release candidate in GitHub UI

Prepare Vote email on the Apache Pulsar release candidate

Note about helm gpg vs helm --verify

Verify the release candidate by the PMC

SVN check

Licence check

Signature check

SHA512 sum check

Verify release candidates by Contributors

Publish the final release

Summarize the voting for the release

Publish release to SVN

Publish release tag

Update index.yaml

Create release notes for the tag in GitHub UI

Notify developers of release

Create release on GitHub

Close the milestone

Announce the release on the community slack

Maintaining svn https://dist.apache.org/repos/dist/release/pulsar/helm-chart/ content

Note about `helm gpg` vs `helm --verify`