Create a release branch for SkiaSharp. Use when user says "release X", "start release X", "create release branch for X", "I want to release", or "release now". This is the FIRST step of releasing - creates branch and pushes to trigger CI. Can auto-detect next preview version from main branch.
Create release branches for SkiaSharp versions.
⚠️ NO UNDO: This is step 1 of 3. See releasing.md for full workflow.
🛑 NEVER commit directly to
mainorskiasharpbranches. This is a policy violation.
| Repository | Protected Branches | Required Action |
|---|---|---|
| SkiaSharp (parent) | main | Create release/X.Y.Z branch, never commit to main |
| externals/skia (submodule) | main, |
skiasharp| Must use feature branch if submodule changes needed |
Release branches are created FROM main, but never modify main directly.
SKIASHARP_VERSION from scripts/azure-templates-variables.ymlgit branch -r | grep "release/{version}-preview"release/{version} branch exists — if it does, the stable release is already cut and you should NOT create another preview. Ask the user to confirm.X.Y.Z-preview.N. Proceed?"Use the provided version directly.
⚠️ Semver ordering: A bare version X.Y.Z is ALWAYS newer than X.Y.Z-preview.N. When listing
branches to find the latest, remember that release/3.119.2 > release/3.119.2-preview.3.
Do NOT use alphabetical sorting — it gives wrong results for semver.
| Version Format | Type | Base | PREVIEW_LABEL |
|---|---|---|---|
X.Y.Z-preview.N | Preview | main | preview.N |
X.Y.Z | Stable | release/X.Y.Z-preview.{latest} | stable |
X.Y.Z.F-preview.N | Hotfix Preview | tag vX.Y.Z | preview.N |
X.Y.Z.F | Hotfix Stable | release/X.Y.Z.F-preview.{latest} | stable |
For stable releases, find latest preview: git branch -r | grep "release/X.Y.Z-preview" | sort -V | tail -1
NuGet version format by release type:
{base}-{PREVIEW_LABEL}.{build} (e.g., 3.119.2-preview.2.3) — build number is part of the prerelease tag{base} only (e.g., 3.119.2) — the build number is NEVER appended to stable versions. On the internal feed, stable builds appear as {base}-stable.{build} but the published version is just {base}.release/{version}scripts/azure-templates-variables.yml: set PREVIEW_LABELgit commit -m "Bump the version to {version}"ask_user before pushinggit push -u origin release/{version}
This triggers CI build (2-4 hours).
Skip for stable and hotfix releases.
Create branch bump-version-{next} from main
Edit scripts/azure-templates-variables.yml:
SKIASHARP_VERSION to next versionPREVIEW_LABEL to preview.0Edit scripts/VERSIONS.txt:
SkiaSharp file → {next}.0SkiaSharp ... nuget lines → {next}HarfBuzzSharp file → increment 4th digit (e.g., 8.3.1.4 → 8.3.1.5)HarfBuzzSharp ... nuget lines → same as file versionCommit: git commit -m "Bump to the next version ({next}) after release"
Show diff to user, then:
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