docs: Document how to do stable releases

diff --git a/docs/RELEASE.md b/docs/RELEASE.md
index 0d8c0b95fa07ede273760d00349d6eb9f039133e..cbd43dca188b5b41c39cf5c114366e0c2a7609be 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/RELEASE.md
+++ b/docs/RELEASE.md
@@ -27,3 +27,9 @@ SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
 18. [FINAL] Build and upload the documentation (on the -stable branch): `ninja -C build doc-sync`
 20. [FINAL] Change the Github Pages branch to the newly created branch (https://github.com/systemd/systemd/settings/pages) and set the 'Custom domain' to 'systemd.io'
 21. [FINAL] Update version number in `meson.version` to the devel version of the next release (e.g. from `v256` to `v257~devel`)
+
+# Steps to a Successful Stable Release
+
+1. Backport at least the commits from all PRs tagged with `needs-stable-backport` on Github with `git cherry-pick -x`. Any other commits that fix bugs, change documentation, tests, CI or mkosi can generally be backported as well. Since 256 the stable branches live [here](https://github.com/systemd/systemd/). Stable branches for older releases are available [here](https://github.com/systemd/systemd-stable/). Check each commit to see if it makes sense to backport and check the comments on the PR to see if the author indicated that only specific commits should be backported.
+2. Update the version number in `meson.version` (e.g. from `256.2` to `256.3`) (only for 256-stable or newer)
+3. Tag the release: `version="v$(cat meson.version)" && git tag -s "${version}" -m "systemd-stable ${version}"` (Fill in the version manually on releases older than 256)