CreateDistribution.txt

How to create a distribution of RIOS. You will need the 'build' module
installed ("conda install build" or "pip install build").

1. Ensure that you have fetched and committed everything which needs to go in.
2. Change the version number in the rios/__init__.py. Version number
   is of the form a.b.c, as discussed below. 
3. Update the release notes page at doc/source/releasenotes.rst, by going
   through the change logs since the last release, and noting what has been
   done.
   DON'T FORGET TO COMMIT THIS, BEFORE THE NEXT STEP!!!!
4. Push the changes to github with "git push". 

   In practice, steps 2-3 are usually done as a single pull request, and
   merged, rather than pushed directly, but I am skipping all the detail
   of how to do a PR.
5. Check out a clean copy of the repository into /tmp or
   somewhere similar and 'cd' into it.
6. Create the distribution tar.gz file, using
       python -m build .
   This creates a tar.gz, under a subdirectory called dist/,
       e.g. dist/rios-1.2.3.tar.gz
7. Create a checksum of this, e.g.
       cd dist
       sha256sum rios-1.2.3.tar.gz > rios-1.2.3.tar.gz.sha256
8. Go to the https://github.com/ubarsc/rios/releases page, and create a 
   new release by pressing "Draft a new release". 
   You should fill in the following:
       Tag version: rios-A.B.C
       Release Title: Version A.B.C
       Description: Add a brief description (a few lines at most) explaining
                    the key points about this release.
       Upload files: Add the tar.gz, and its sha256 checksum file.
       Click "Publish release"
       


Version Numbers.
The RIOS version number is structured as A.B.C. We follow the conventions 
outlined in Semantic Versioning [https://semver.org]
- The A number should change for major alterations, most particularly those 
  which break backward compatability, or which involve major restructuring of 
  code or data structures. 
- The B number should change for introduction of significant new features
- The C number should change for bug fixes or very minor changes.