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RELEASE_PROCESS.md

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+## Release Process
+
+### 1. Create a new version
+
+- Update `AUTHORS`
+
+  ```
+  npm run update-authors
+  ```
+
+  Commit if necessary. The commit message should be "authors".
+
+- Write the changelog
+
+  You can use `git log --oneline <last version tag>..HEAD` to get a list of changes.
+
+  Summarize them concisely in `CHANGELOG.md`. The commit  message should be "changelog".
+
+- Update the version
+
+  ```
+  npm version [major|minor|patch]
+  ```
+
+  This creates both a commit and a git tag.
+
+- Make a PR
+
+  Once the PR is reviewed, merge it:
+
+  ```
+  git push origin <branch-name>:master
+  ```
+
+  This makes it so that the commit hash on master matches the commit hash of the version tag.
+
+  Finally, run:
+
+  ```
+  git push --tags
+  ```
+
+### 2. Create the release binaries
+
+- On a Mac:
+
+  ```
+  npm run package -- darwin --sign
+  ```
+
+  Move the `.zip` and `.dmg` file somewhere because the next step wipes the `dist/` folder away.
+
+  ```
+  npm run package -- linux --sign
+  ```
+
+- On Windows, or in a Windows VM:
+
+  ```
+  npm run package -- win32 --sign
+  ```
+
+- Then, upload the release binaries to Github:
+
+  ```
+  npm run gh-release
+  ```
+
+  Follow the URL to a newly created Github release page. Manually upload the binaries from
+  `webtorrent-desktop/dist/`. Open the previous release in another tab, and make sure that you
+  are uploading the same set of files, no more, no less.
+
+### 3. Test it
+
+**This is the most important part.**
+
+- Manually download the binaries for each platform from Github.
+
+  **Do not use your locally built binaries.** Modern OSs treat executables differently if they've
+  been downloaded, even though the files are byte for byte identical. This ensures that the
+  codesigning worked and is valid.
+
+- Smoke test WebTorrent Desktop on each platform. Before a release, check that the following basic use cases work correctly:
+
+  1. Click "Play" to stream a built-in torrent (e.g. Sintel)
+    - Ensure that seeking to undownloaded region works and plays immediately.
+    - Ensure that sintel.mp4 gets downloaded to `~/Downloads`.
+
+  2. Check that the auto-updater works
+    - Open the console and check for the line "No update available" to indicate that the auto-updater is working. (If the auto updater does not run, users will successfully auto update to this new version, and then be stuck there forever.)
+
+  3. Add a new .torrent file via drag-and-drop.
+    - Ensure that it gets added to the list and starts downloading.
+
+  4. Remove a torrent from the client
+    - Ensure that the file is removed from `~/Downloads`
+
+  5. Create and seed a new a torrent via drag-and-drop.
+    - Ensure that the torrent gets created and seeding begins.
+
+### 4. Ship it
+
+- Update the website
+
+  Create a pull request in [webtorrent.io](https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent.io). Update
+  `config.js`, updating the desktop app version.
+
+  Once this PR is merged and Feross redeploys the WebTorrent website,
+  hundreds of thousands of users around the world will start auto updating. **Merge with care.**