Document Official HW (RTL + ROM) Release Process

HWReleaseProcess.md

@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# HW Release process
+
+## Nightly
+
+1. When a new release is triggered a new **release candidate** branch will be created from the HEAD of the **main** branch in the **caliptra-sw** repo.
+    - Naming of the branch fill indicate it is a release candidate and will have a target point release version (ex. HWRC 0.8_0; HWRC 0.8_1)
+2. A new commit will update the RTL submodule pointer to point to the new RTL release candidate branch creates in Step #1, and update the registers RDL
+3. If all the caliptra-sw repo CI tests pass:
+    1. A **release collateral** archive will be generated and pushed as a Github Artifact
+    2. If the RTL submodule pointer has been updated (and no other changes were required to be cherry-picked), **release candidate** will turn into a PR into main
+
+## Major Releases
+
+1. The **release collateral** will be manually used for a RTL DV Checkout
+2. If the RTL Regression passes a new release will be made on the **caliptra** repo and a ZIP file containing the release collateral will be included as part of the release.
+3. The **caliptra-rtl** and **caliptra-sw** repos will be tagged with a **release** version tag.
+
+## Fail Case
+
+1. Failure in caliptra-sw repo
+    1. Create PR with the fixes to go to **main** branch in the caliptra-sw repo
+    2. Once PR is merged, fix will be cherry picked into **release candidate** branch and we would go back to Step #4
+2. Failure in RTL Repo
+    1. Create PR with the fixes to go to **main** branch in the caliptra-rtl repo
+    2. Once PR is merged, go back to step #2
+
+## Release Collateral
+
+- Release ZIP File
+  - RTL SRC
+    - ROM binary files (BIN ,ELF, and HEX)
+    - Additional Documentation
+    - All specs?
+    - Register Documentation (External)
+    - Header files with:
+      - Register definitions.
+      - Reference code for mailbox, etc.
+    - Release notes TXT file
+    - Which tests were run and which ones passed/failed?
+    - All relevant Git commit hashes from both repos
+- Separate Supporting ZIP File (due to size concerns)
+  - FPGA Bitstream file
+  - C HW model
+  - Headers and static library
+  - Firmware signed (development key) binary files (BIN, ELF)
+  - Integrator Test Checklist
+    - Fuse Matrix
+    - Test List
+    - Development Key
+
+## Release Rules/Opens
+
+- All fixes go into a main branch first and then any required fixes for a release will get cherrypicked over.
+- All releases will come from a release candidate branch and have a TAG created.
+- Once a release is made the release candidate branch SHALL be deleted.
+
+<br> *Caliptra Release Flow*
+![Caliptra Release Flow Chart](doc/images/Caliptra_release_flow.svg)