Update of the release guide

Orekit development
1

Hi all,

After performing some releases, I would like to propose some changes in the release guide. However, I would like to have some advice first.

  1. In the Prepare Git branch for release section. I think that the release-X.Y branch should be pushed just after its creation. This would allow the CI to check that it is stable, especially in JavaDoc, while the steps of the release process are in progress (It already happened to me to have to make another release candidate because of problems of JavaDoc during the deployment…).
    Do you agree with this small change?

  2. Currently, in the release guide, there is a big step named Update maven plugins versions. However, updating plugins is introducing instability at a time when we need stability because we are trying to release a new version of Orekit. Therefore, I propose to remove this step of the release guide and to put it in another place, like the contributing guide as an example of what a user can contribute.
    Do you agree?

  3. If you agree with 1., the Check the JavaDoc step can be removed because the CI will check it.

  4. The Site step must be before the Tag and sign the git repository. It is important to generate the site locally in order to verify that everything looks good after updating the documentation. However, because the version has been already tagged and signed, if a problem is highlighted after the site generation, the release manager must tag and sign another release candidate. Which is painful…
    Do you agree with it?

  5. The Upload to Gitlab step must be update according to the recent changes in Orekit and the automatic generation of the change logs. If don’t think the *click the edit button to enter release note* step is necessary. If it is done, the CI on the X.Y tag will failed.
    I would like to update the tasks of the step after the next release.

  6. Add a Release patch version section. It can be very short. A list of steps to follow (i.e., with the same names of the steps presented before in the guide) is, in my opinion, sufficient.
    Do you agree?

If you see other changes that must be performed, don’t hesitate.

Best regards,
Bryan