Merge pull request #312 from bacongobbler/release-process

add release process

RELEASE.md

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# spin-operator release process
+
+The vast majority of the release process is handled after you push a new git tag.
+
+First, let's start by setting some environment variables we can reference later.
+
+```console
+export TAG=v0.x.0 #CHANGEME
+```
+
+To push a tag, do the following:
+
+```console
+git checkout main
+git remote add upstream [email protected]:spinkube/spin-operator
+git pull upstream main
+git tag --sign $TAG --message "Release $TAG"
+git push upstream $TAG
+```
+
+Observe that the [CI run for that tag](https://github.com/spinkube/spin-operator/actions) completed.
+
+Bump the Helm chart versions. See #311 for an example.
+
+Next, you'll need to update the documentation:
+
+```console
+git clone [email protected]:spinkube/documentation
+cd documentation
+```
+
+Change all references from the previous version to the new version.
+
+Contribute those changes and open a PR.
+
+As an optional step, you can run a set of smoke tests to ensure the latest release works as expected.
+
+Finally, announce the new release on the #spinkube CNCF Slack channel.