Release Branch Skill

Create release branches for SkiaSharp versions.

⚠️ NO UNDO: This is step 1 of 3. See releasing.md for full workflow.

⚠️ Branch Protection (COMPLIANCE REQUIRED)

🛑 NEVER commit directly to main or skiasharp branches. This is a policy violation.

Release branches are created FROM main, but never modify main directly.

Step 1: Determine Version

Auto-detect (user says "release now")

1. •Fetch main and read SKIASHARP_VERSION from scripts/azure-templates-variables.yml
2. •List existing branches: git branch -r | grep "release/{version}-preview"
3. •Next preview = highest + 1 (or 1 if none)
4. •Confirm with user: "Next release will be X.Y.Z-preview.N. Proceed?"

User provides version

Use the provided version directly.

Step 2: Determine Release Type

For stable releases, find latest preview: git branch -r | grep "release/X.Y.Z-preview" | sort -V | tail -1

Step 3: Create Branch and Update PREVIEW_LABEL

1. •Checkout the base (main, preview branch, or tag)
2. •Create branch release/{version}
3. •Edit scripts/azure-templates-variables.yml: set PREVIEW_LABEL
4. •Commit: git commit -m "Bump the version to {version}"
5. •Show diff summary to user and confirm with ask_user before pushing

Step 4: Push Branch

git push -u origin release/{version}

This triggers CI build (2-4 hours).

Step 5: Bump Version on Main (Preview from main only)

Skip for stable and hotfix releases.

1. •

   Create branch bump-version-{next} from main

2. •

   Edit scripts/azure-templates-variables.yml:

   • •Update SKIASHARP_VERSION to next version
   • •Reset PREVIEW_LABEL to preview.0
3. •

   Edit scripts/VERSIONS.txt:

   • •SkiaSharp file → {next}.0
   • •All SkiaSharp ... nuget lines → {next}
   • •HarfBuzzSharp file → increment 4th digit (e.g., 8.3.1.4 → 8.3.1.5)
   • •All HarfBuzzSharp ... nuget lines → same as file version
4. •

   Commit: git commit -m "Bump to the next version ({next}) after release"

5. •

   Show diff to user, then:

   bash

   git push -u origin bump-version-{next}
   gh pr create --title "Bump to the next version ({next}) after release" --body ""
   gh pr merge --merge --delete-branch
   

Resources

• •releasing.md — Version patterns, HarfBuzz versioning, workflow diagrams