README updated with release process instructions

README.md

@@ -1,19 +1,18 @@
-WORK IN PROGRESS - DO NOT USE
-
 # dp-python-tools
 
 _Simple_ reusable python classes and functions for digital publishing.
 
-The key word is _simple_. If the desired functionality is more than a script or two (or existing functionality sprawls beyond that) please consider separating it into it's own repository.
+The key word is _simple_. If the desired functionality is more than a script or two (or existing functionality sprawls beyond that) please consider separating it into its own repository.
 
-Given this pattern, each distinct thing should be clearly separated out within `./pytools` with each having its own README with example usage.
+Given this pattern, each distinct tool should be clearly separated out within `./dpytools`, with each tool having its own README with example usage.
 
 TLDR: Try and enforce decent logical separation between the tools in this toolbag against the eventuality/likelyhood of separating them out at a later date.
 
 ## Installation
-This repository is provided as an installable python package
 
-1. **Install the package**
+This repository is provided as an installable python package.
+
+1. **To install the package**
 
     Open your terminal and run the following command:
 
@@ -23,10 +22,31 @@ This repository is provided as an installable python package
 
 ## Development
 
-All commits that make it to PR should have black and ruff already ran against them, you can do this via `make fmt` and you can lint via `make lint`.
+All commits that make it to PR should have had `black` and `ruff` already run against them, you can do this via `make fmt` and you can lint via `make lint`.
 
 Given this is a lower level resource to be relied on by other things, all classes and functions should have good unit test coverage. You can run the unit tests via `make test`.
 
+## Release process
+
+This package follows standard [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/) for its release process. Releases are tagged as vX.Y.Z, where:
+
+- X denotes the MAJOR version (significant new functionality released which is not backwards-compatible with earlier versions).
+- Y denotes the MINOR version (new functionality released which is backwards-compatible with earlier versions).
+- Z denotes the PATCH version (no new functionality, backwards-compatible, primarily used for bug fixes).
+
+To release a new version of `dpytools`:
+
+1. In the `[tool.poetry]` section of `pyproject.toml`, update the `version` number as appropriate, following the semantic versioning rules listed above.
+2. Commit the `pyproject.toml` changes to git, and merge to the `develop` branch.
+3. In the GitHub repository, click "Releases" in the right-hand column.
+4. Click the "Draft a new release" button in the top right corner of the Releases page.
+5. Click the "Choose a tag" dropdown, and enter the new version number, **ensuring that this matches the updated version number in `pyproject.toml`**. Click "Create new tag".
+6. Ensure that "Target" is set to "develop".
+7. Click the "Previous tag" dropdown and select the most recent release tag from the list.
+8. Click "Generate release notes" to automatically generate a description for the release. This is essentially a list of all branches merged since the previous release. You can manually edit these notes to make it easier to read for end users, if desired.
+9. By default, the "Release title" defaults to the version tag - add a short description of changes that have been made in the new version.
+10. Click "Publish release" to release the new version of the package.
+
 Licence
 -------