Gatherpress Develop

This plugin manages versioning, credits, and deployment tooling for the GatherPress project.

Version Credits

Version credits are managed in data/credits.php. Each version is a key in the array with contributor data as values:

'0.34.0-alpha.1' => array(
    'project-leaders' => array( 'mauteri', 'patricia70' ),
    'gatherpress-team' => array( 'hrmervin', 'jmarx75', ... ),
    'contributors' => array( 'kofimokome' ),
),

Usernames correspond to WordPress.org profile usernames. This data is used to generate latest.json for the credits display in the plugin settings.

Versioning Scheme

GatherPress follows semantic versioning with pre-release stages:

Stage	Format	Example
Alpha	X.Y.Z-alpha.N	0.34.0-alpha.1
Beta	X.Y.Z-beta.N	0.34.0-beta.1
Release Candidate	X.Y.Z-rc.N	0.34.0-rc.1
Stable Release	X.Y.Z	0.34.0
Patch Release	X.Y.Z	0.34.1

Branch Strategy

Main Branches

Branch	Purpose
main	Current stable release. Reflects what is deployed to WordPress.org.
develop	Latest merged code. Unstable. All feature work merges here first.

Working Branches

Branch Pattern	Purpose	Example
version-X.Y.Z	Release preparation branch	version-0.34.1
merge-X.Y.Z	Merge release changes back to develop	merge-0.34.1

Release Workflow

Feature Release (e.g., 0.34.0)

1. Prepare release branch: Branch off develop with version-X.Y.Z

   git checkout develop
   git checkout -b version-0.34.0

2. Update credits: Add version entry to data/credits.php with contributors

3. Test and finalize: Make any release-specific changes, run tests

4. Merge to main: Once ready, merge version-X.Y.Z into main

   git checkout main
   git merge version-0.34.0

5. Build plugin zip: In the gatherpress directory, create the release artifact

   npm run plugin-zip

   This generates gatherpress.zip containing the built plugin.

6. Create release via GitHub UI:

   • Go to the repository's Releases page
   • Click "Create a new release"
   • Create a new tag (e.g., 0.34.0) targeting main
   • Generate release notes
   • Attach the gatherpress.zip file to the release
   • Publish the release — this triggers deployment to WordPress.org

7. Merge back to develop: Create merge branch and sync changes

   git checkout main
   git pull origin main
   git checkout -b merge-0.34.0
   git checkout develop
   git merge merge-0.34.0

8. Resolve conflicts: Run the develop CLI to update version numbers and resolve any conflicts between main and develop

Patch Release (e.g., 0.34.1)

Patches are created when a fix is needed for the stable release but develop has moved ahead.

1. Branch off main: Since main may be behind develop, branch from main

   git checkout main
   git checkout -b version-0.34.1

2. Make patch changes: Apply the fix, update credits in data/credits.php

3. Test thoroughly: Ensure the patch doesn't introduce regressions

4. Merge to main:

   git checkout main
   git merge version-0.34.1

5. Build plugin zip: In the gatherpress directory, create the release artifact

   npm run plugin-zip

   This generates gatherpress.zip containing the built plugin.

6. Create release via GitHub UI:

   • Go to the repository's Releases page
   • Click "Create a new release"
   • Create a new tag (e.g., 0.34.1) targeting main
   • Add release notes describing the patch
   • Attach the gatherpress.zip file to the release
   • Publish the release — this triggers deployment to WordPress.org

7. Merge back to develop:

   git checkout main
   git pull origin main
   git checkout -b merge-0.34.1
   git checkout develop
   git merge merge-0.34.1

8. Resolve conflicts: Run the develop CLI to handle version conflicts. Additional manual conflict resolution may be needed depending on how far main and develop have diverged.

Deployment

Publishing a release via the GitHub UI triggers automatic deployment to WordPress.org via GitHub Actions. Tags should only target the main branch after all changes have been merged and tested.

Pre-release Testing

For alpha, beta, and RC releases:

1. Follow the same process as a feature release
2. Use the appropriate version format (e.g., 0.34.0-alpha.1)
3. These versions can be deployed for testing but are not promoted as stable

Common Tasks

Adding a Contributor

Edit data/credits.php and add the WordPress.org username to the appropriate array for the current version:

'0.34.0' => array(
    'contributors' => array( 'existing-user', 'new-contributor' ),
),

Checking Current Stable Version

The main branch always reflects the current stable release deployed to WordPress.org.

Finding Divergence Between Branches

git log main..develop --oneline  # Commits in develop not in main
git log develop..main --oneline  # Commits in main not in develop