more updates to release process

.github/release_steps.md

@@ -1,28 +1,78 @@
 # LAMMPS Release Steps
 
-The following notes chronicle the current steps for preparing and publishing LAMMPS releases.
+The following notes chronicle the current steps for preparing and publishing LAMMPS releases.  For
-For definition of what LAMMPS versions and the different kinds of releases mean, please
+definition of what LAMMPS versions and the different kinds of releases mean, please refer to [the
-refer to [the corresponding section in the LAMMPS manual](https://docs.lammps.org/Manual_version.html).
+corresponding section in the LAMMPS manual](https://docs.lammps.org/Manual_version.html).
 
 ## LAMMPS Feature Release
 
-A LAMMPS feature release is currently prepared after about 500 to 750 commits to the
+A LAMMPS feature release is currently prepared after about 500 to 750 commits to the 'develop'
-'develop' branch or after a period of four weeks up to two months.
+branch or after a period of four weeks up to two months.  This is not a fixed rule, though, since
+external circumstances can cause delays in preparing a release, or pull requests that are desired to
+be merged for the release are not yet completed.
 
 ### Preparing a 'next\_release' branch
 
 Create a 'next\_release' branch off 'develop' and make the following changes:
-- set the LAMMPS\_VERSION define to the planned release date in src/version.h in the format "D Mmm YYYY" or "DD Mmm YYYY"
+
+- set the LAMMPS\_VERSION define to the planned release date in src/version.h in the format
+  "D Mmm YYYY" or "DD Mmm YYYY"
 - remove the LAMMPS\_UPDATE define in src/version.h
 - update the release date in doc/lammps.1
 - update all TBD arguments for ..versionadded::, ..versionchanged:: ..deprecated:: to the
   planned release date in the format "DMmmYYYY" or "DDMmmYYYY"
-
+- check release notes for merged new features and check if ..versionadded:: or ..versionchanged::
-Submit this pull request, rebase if needed. This is the last pull request merged for the release
+  are missing and need to be added
+Submit this pull request, rebase if needed.  This is the last pull request merged for the release
 and should not contain any other changes. (Exceptions: this document, last minute trivial(!) changes).
+
 This PR shall not be merged before **all** pending tests have completed and cleared. If needed, a
 bugfix pull request should be created and merged to clear all tests.
 
+### Create release on GitHub
+
+When all pending pull requests for the release are merged and have cleared testing, the
+'next\_release' branch is merged into 'develop'.
+
+Check out 'develop' locally, pull the latest changes, merge them into 'release', apply a suitable
+release tag (for historical reasons the tag starts with "patch_" followed by the date, and finally
+push everything back to GitHub. Example:
+
+```
+git checkout develop
+git pull
+git checkout release
+git pull
+git merge --ff-only develop
+git tag -s -m "LAMMPS feature release 19 November 2024" patch_19Nov2024
+git push git@github.com:lammps/lammps.git --tags develop release
+```
+
+Go to https://github.com/lammps/lammps/releases and create a new (draft) release page or check the
+existing draft for any necessary changes from pull requests that were merged but are not listed.
+Then select the applied tag for the release in the "Choose a tag" dropdown list. Go to the bottom of
+the list and select the "Set as pre-release" checkbox.  The "Set as the latest release" button is
+reserved for stable releases and updates to them.
+
+If everything is in order, you can click on the "Publish release" button.  Otherwise, click on "Save
+draft" and finish pending tasks until you can return to edit the release page and publish it.
+
+### Update download website, prepare pre-compiled packages, update packages to GitHub
+
+Publishing the release on GitHub will trigger the Temple Jenkins cluster to update
+the https://docs.lammps.org/ website with the documentation for the new feature release
+and it will create a tarball for download (which contains the translated manual).
+
+Build a fully static LAMMPS installation using a musl-libc cross-compiler, install into a
+lammps-static folder, and create a tarball called lammps-linux-x86_64-19Nov2024.tar.gz (or using a
+corresponding date with a future release) from the lammps-static folder and upload it to GitHub
+with:
+
+```
+gh release upload patch_19Nov2024 ~/Downloads/lammps-linux-x86_64-19Nov2024.tar.gz
+```
+
+
 ## LAMMPS Stable Release
 
 A LAMMPS stable release is prepared about once per year in the months July, August, or September.