This issue aims to track all steps needed to prepare the release 1.7 branches/builds.

Please add all steps taken here so we can document for future releases

• Set up release manager team (owner: JimmyCYJ) - Make sure the new team has write access to the repositories.
• Update dependencies. This must be done before branching so that PRs can be easily backported later. (owner: JimmyCYJ Update dependencies #25707)
  • Check if github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane dependency needs to be updated (to master?). Ask kuat.
  • Run the following command in istio/istio UPDATE_BRANCH=master ./bin/update_deps.sh; make gen
• Adjust istio/proxy to correct version of istio/envoy (Update Envoy SHA to match istio/envoy release-1.7 branch proxy#2938)
• Create a release-1.7 branch in every Istio repo - run commands export org=xyz ; export repo=xyz ; (git clone git@github.com:${org}/${repo}.git && cd $repo && git checkout -b release-1.7 && git push --set-upstream origin release-1.7).
  • istio/istio
  • istio/pkg
  • istio/api
  • istio/proxy
  • istio/envoy
  • istio/client-go
  • istio/tools
  • istio/common-files
  • istio/gogo-genproto
  • istio/release-builder
  • Explicitly skipped: istio-releases/pipeline, istio/tests, istio/istio.io, istio/test-infra
• Set up prow on release branches (owner: howardjohn) go run generate.go branch 1.7 Add prow jobs for release-1.7 test-infra#2821
• Set up branch protection (owner: howardjohn). Modify prow/config.yaml in test-infra to add release manages as owners for branch. Add branch protection for 1.7 branches test-infra#2820
• Update all repos that point to master branch of another repo to point to the release branch. master-latest-daily -> 1.7-dev (see https://discuss.istio.io/t/deprecation-notice-daily-builds/3991), latest -> 1.7-dev, git clone master to git clone release-1.5, etc. Commit a PR into every release-1.7 branch to modify every CODEOWNERS to contain only the release managers for this release. Command: export org=xyz ; export repo=xyz ; (git clone git@github.com:${org}/${repo}.git && cd $repo && git checkout release-1.7 && git checkout -b release-1.7-codeowners && echo '* @istio/release-managers-1-7' > CODEOWNERS && git add CODEOWNERS && git commit -m 'Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7' && git push --set-upstream origin release-1.7-codeowners).
  • istio/istio (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 #25715)
  • istio/pkg (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 pkg#195)
  • istio/api (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 api#1544)
  • istio/envoy (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 envoy#239)
  • istio/proxy (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 proxy#2932)
  • istio/client-go (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 client-go#206)
  • istio/tools (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 tools#1097)
  • istio/common-files (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 common-files#285)
  • istio/gogo-genproto (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 gogo-genproto#112)
  • istio/release-builder (Set release managers as CODEOWNERS for release-1.7 release-builder#324)
  • istio/release-builder branch change in build.sh too! (Updates for 1.7 release-builder#325)
• Update common-files in new release. You first have to manually update the common/Makefile.common.mk update-common target to point to the new release and then run 'make update-common'. It may be that this step could be combined in the prior step in the 'make update-common' was done before the branch.
  • istio/common-files should have the branch updated above. (Update files for release-1.7 common-files#286)
  • istio/istio (Update files for 1.7 #25759)
  • istio/pkg (update common pkg#196)
  • istio/api (Updates for 1.7 api#1547)
  • istio/envoy (not needed)
  • istio/client-go (Updates for 1.7 client-go#208)
  • istio/gogo-genproto (update common gogo-genproto#113)
  • istio/proxy (Updates for 1.7 proxy#2940)
  • istio/release-builder (Updates for 1.7 release-builder#325)
  • istio/tools (Updates for 1.7 tools#1098)
• Bump master to version 1.8 (Bump version to 1.8 #25742)
• Stop publishing latest tags (owner: JimmyCYJ Stop publishing latest tags #25764)
• Add new label: cherrypick/release-1.8 (Add cherrypick label for 1.8 bots#237)
• Run the long-running tests on the dev builds (owner: richardwxn)
• Send an announcement on Discuss (https://discuss.istio.io/t/1-7-release-branch-cut/7610)
• Add release lock for release 1.7 in master branch of API repo. (Add release 1.7 release lock api#1551)
• Update build tools
  • Update istio/tools to build with release-1.7 build image (owner: JimmyCYJ Updates for 1.7 tools#1098)
  • Update istio/common-files to set release-1.7 build image (owner: JimmyCYJ Update files for release-1.7 common-files#286, update image version common-files#287)
• Publish an alpha release
  • Trigger a 1.7 alpha build (JimmyCYJ: Trigger a 1.7.0-alpha.1 build release-builder#328)
  • Publish a 1.7 alpha release (JimmyCYJ: Publish 1.7.0-alpha.1 release-builder#329, Publish 1.7.0-alpha.1 release-builder#330)