libretro/wiki/release-process.md

Release Process

This page documents the CI/CD pipeline: what each workflow does, how releases are built, and how to run the process manually.

CI workflows overview

The project uses 2 GitHub Actions workflows. All use only official GitHub actions (actions/checkout, actions/setup-python, actions/upload-pages-artifact, actions/deploy-pages). No third-party actions.

Budget target: ~175 minutes/month on the GitHub free tier.

Workflow	File	Trigger
Deploy Site	deploy-site.yml	Push to main (platforms, emulators, provenance, wiki, scripts, database.json, mkdocs.yml), manual
Validation	validate.yml	PR and push to main touching bios/**, platforms/** or emulators/**

Upstream BIOS lists are not scraped on a schedule. A maintainer runs the scrapers by hand (see adding a scraper), reviews the diff, and commits the refreshed platform YAML. Releases are built on the maintainer's machine and uploaded with gh, see cutting a release: the packs weigh 25 GB, more than a hosted runner should rebuild and re-upload.

deploy-site.yml - Deploy Documentation Site

Trigger. Push to main when any of these paths change: platforms/, emulators/, provenance/, wiki/, scripts/generate_site.py, scripts/generate_readme.py, scripts/verify.py, scripts/common.py, database.json, release.json, mkdocs.yml. Also manual dispatch.

The list is the set of inputs the site is generated from. Adding a new input to generate_site.py means adding its path here, or the site silently goes stale.

Steps:

1. Checkout, Python 3.12
2. Install pyyaml, mkdocs-material>=9.7.5,<10, pymdown-extensions>=10.14
3. Restore large files from the large-files release, refresh data directories
4. Run generate_site.py (converts YAML data into MkDocs pages and rewrites mkdocs.yml)
5. Run generate_readme.py (rebuilds README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md)
6. mkdocs build --strict to produce the static site
7. Run validate_site.py on the rendered HTML (metadata, headings, image alternatives, duplicate ids, local links and fragments)
8. Require the committed README and CONTRIBUTING to match what the generator just produced. write_if_changed() compares content with the timestamp line stripped, so a run that only moves the clock leaves the files untouched and the check stays meaningful
9. Upload artifact, deploy to GitHub Pages

Data contracts are validated with scripts/validate_schemas.py before the site is generated: database.json, the install and target manifests, the site API envelopes and the stats file, plus the semantic invariants those schemas cannot express (declared totals matching their lists, no destination both installed and omitted).

The site is deployed via the github-pages environment using the official actions/deploy-pages action. Pages deployments are queued rather than cancelled (cancel-in-progress: false): cancelling one mid-flight leaves the deployment stuck and the next runs time out waiting on it.

--strict turns MkDocs warnings into failures, so a broken internal link or a dangling anchor fails the build instead of shipping. The validation: block in mkdocs.yml is what promotes unrecognized links and missing anchors to warnings in the first place.

The theme version is pinned on both sides: >=9.7.5 because that is the release which caps mkdocs < 2 (MkDocs 2.0 ships without a license), <10 so a major theme release cannot change the site without a deliberate bump.

validate.yml - Validation

Trigger. Pull requests and direct pushes to main that modify bios/**, platforms/**, emulators/**, schemas/**, scripts/**, tests/** or install.py. The path lists are spelled out once per event because the workflow parser reads no YAML anchor.

Concurrency. Per-PR group on a pull request, per-ref on a push, cancel in-progress either way: a push series collapses to the tip.

Four jobs, two of which read pull request context and carry an event guard:

validate-bios (pull requests only). Diffs the PR to find changed BIOS files, runs validate_pr.py --markdown on each, and posts the validation report as a PR comment (hash verification, database match status).

validate-configs. Runs python scripts/validate_schemas.py --source-only, which validates every platform YAML against schemas/platform.schema.json and every emulator profile against schemas/emulator.schema.json. Both schemas set additionalProperties: false, so a typo in a field name fails the job instead of being silently ignored.

run-tests. Runs python -m unittest discover tests -v. Must pass before a merge, and again on the commit a direct push puts at the head of main.

label-pr (pull requests only). Auto-labels the PR based on changed paths:

Path pattern	Label
bios/	bios
bios/{Manufacturer}/	system:{manufacturer}
platforms/	platform-config
scripts/	automation

Large files management

Files larger than 50 MB are stored as assets on a permanent GitHub release named large-files (to keep the git repository lightweight).

Examples: PS3UPDAT.PUP, PSVUPDAT.PUP, PSP2UPDAT.PUP, the DSi NAND images, maclc3.zip, Firmware.19.0.0.zip (Switch), the QEMU EDK2 firmware, the ScummVM data bundle, the EasyRPG soundfont, the Dolphin/Ishiiruka SD card images, and the arcade sets over 100 MB. .gitignore is the authoritative list: every bios/ path listed there is a release asset.

Storage. Listed in .gitignore so they stay out of git history. The large-files release is excluded from cleanup (the build workflow only deletes version-tagged releases).

Build-time restore. The build workflow downloads all assets from large-files into .cache/large/ and copies them to their expected paths before pack generation.

Upload. To add or update a large file:

gh release upload large-files "bios/Sony/PS3/PS3UPDAT.PUP#PS3UPDAT.PUP"

Local cache. generate_pack.py calls fetch_large_file() which downloads from the release and caches in .cache/large/ for subsequent runs.

Check. The installer refuses a download whose Content-Length differs from the manifest size, and the manifest size is that of the local file. A file rebuilt locally after its upload therefore fails every install until it is uploaded again (--clobber). python scripts/check_release_assets.py compares every gitignored bios/ path in the database with the asset of the same name, and the release page with the one it renders from the collection; the online pipeline runs it as step 2b2. To refresh the page:

python scripts/check_release_assets.py --notes tmp/notes.md
gh release edit large-files --notes-file tmp/notes.md

An asset no database entry names is listed on the page under "Not indexed", with its size only: the collection vouches for no hash it does not hold.

Cutting a release

Releasing is deliberate and local. Nothing on GitHub builds a pack: the pipeline runs here, the archives are checked here, and gh uploads them.

# 1. Full pipeline, online, so data directories and MAME/FBNeo hashes are fresh
python scripts/pipeline.py

# 2. RetroPie, which is archived but still served
python scripts/generate_pack.py --platform retropie --output-dir dist/
python scripts/generate_pack.py --platform retropie --verify-packs --output-dir dist/

# 3. A release file must be under 2 GiB. A larger pack becomes parts that are
#    each a ZIP of whole files (Pack.part1of2.zip): any tool opens one, and
#    the parts extracted into one folder are the pack. Each part is read back
#    and the set compared with the pack before the pack is removed.
python scripts/split_pack.py dist/

# 4. Checksums of the files as published, then sign the list. The checksums
#    answer corruption; the signature answers a rewritten release, which is
#    the one thing a checksum published beside its own artifacts cannot
#    answer.
(cd dist && sha256sum *.zip > SHA256SUMS.txt)
ssh-keygen -Y sign -f ~/.ssh/retrobios_signing -n file dist/SHA256SUMS.txt

# 5. Record what each pack holds, read from the archives just checked:
#    file count, extracted size, download size, published files. The README
#    and the site print these beside the download links, and the notes table
#    takes its Size and Files columns from the same lines. The command stops
#    if an archive does not hold the count its install manifest expects.
DATE=$(date +%Y.%m.%d)
python scripts/release_record.py dist/ --tag "v${DATE}"
python scripts/generate_readme.py --db database.json --platforms-dir platforms
python scripts/generate_site.py

# 6. Create the release as a DRAFT, upload every asset, and only then publish it.
#    A public release with half its assets is a broken download for everyone
#    during the whole upload.
gh release create "v${DATE}" --draft --title "BIOS Pack v${DATE}" --notes-file notes.md
for f in dist/SHA256SUMS.txt dist/SHA256SUMS.txt.sig dist/*.zip; do
  [ -f "$f" ] && gh release upload "v${DATE}" "$f#$(basename "$f")" --clobber
done
gh release view "v${DATE}" --json assets --jq '.assets | length'   # expect every file
gh release edit "v${DATE}" --draft=false --latest

#    The record and the pages it feeds go to main with the release, so the
#    table never describes a pack other than the one the link serves.
git add release.json README.md mkdocs.yml
git commit -m "chore: record release v${DATE}" && git push

# 7. Keep only the new release plus large-files: an older pack carries hashes
#    the platforms no longer check, so it misleads more than it helps
gh release list --json tagName,createdAt \
  --jq 'sort_by(.createdAt) | reverse | .[].tagName' | grep -v '^large-files$' \
  | tail -n +2 | while read tag; do gh release delete "$tag" --yes --cleanup-tag; done

Verifying a release

SHA256SUMS.txt is signed with a key used for nothing else. Its public half is allowed_signers at the repository root, so anyone can check a download without trusting the release page it came from:

gh release download --pattern 'SHA256SUMS.txt*' --pattern 'RetroArch_BIOS_Pack.zip*'
curl -fsSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Abdess/retrobios/main/allowed_signers

ssh-keygen -Y verify -f allowed_signers -I releases@retrobios -n file \
  -s SHA256SUMS.txt.sig < SHA256SUMS.txt
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS.txt

The first command must print Good "file" signature for releases@retrobios. Order matters: verify the list before trusting the sums in it. The list names every file as published, so a single part checks on its own. Releases up to v2026.09.04 listed the whole ZIPs instead, and their .zip.001 volumes have to be joined before checking.

The signature and the reproducible build answer different questions. The signature says the list came from the holder of the release key. The build says the bytes are derivable: packs are deterministic and a part copies its members as stored, so rebuilding and splitting from the same collection yields the same files, and their checksums can be compared against the signed list without trusting either.

The private half lives on the maintainer's machine and is generated with ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/retrobios_signing -C releases@retrobios. Its public half is registered as a GitHub signing key, so a verifier who would rather not take allowed_signers on trust can cross-check it against https://api.github.com/users/Abdess/ssh_signing_keys: the two carry the same fingerprint, SHA256:jUcTBhDS5DhmheXuVhAzh3pb04uI0caOAaiZzWXvrk4.

Rotating the key means committing the new public half to allowed_signers and keeping the retired line, so signatures on past releases keep verifying.

One pack per platform, the full one: the platform's list plus everything its cores load. Platform-only and per-emulator packs are build options, not release assets, since a lighter pack means a core that fails with no message. The release notes follow the previous release: the quick install commands, the pack table, what changed since the previous tag, and the contributors of the closed issues. A pack has two sizes and they are far apart: Batocera downloads as 2.4 GB and extracts to 4.0 GB. Step 5 prints both, and whichever one the table carries, the header names it. Someone sizing a USB drive is reading that column. The README table is the extracted size of the released pack, from release.json. SHA256SUMS.txt lists the checksums of the files as published, parts included.

release.json is the record step 5 writes: per pack, the files it holds, its two sizes and the files it is published in. It exists because the pages are regenerated on every push while a release is cut every few weeks. Read from the install manifests, the table gave the count main would build that day: a commit adding 3 700 files to the RetroArch pack moved it to 8 225 while the download still held 4 525.

A pack in parts is said so above the table, where the links are: every part is needed, each is an ordinary ZIP, and they extract into the same folder. Until v2026.09.04 the parts were byte ranges cut by split, named .zip.001, and the sentence explaining them sat under the table. A range opened alone is not an archive and no tool says a part is missing, so five reports in six months took one for a broken download (issues 45, 51, 66, 77 and 79). The README, the download page and the troubleshooting page describe both layouts for as long as a release cut that way is still published; once step 7 has deleted it, the .zip.001 paragraph leaves those three pages.

The table carries a Files column, the count step 5 prints, and the notes never open on the size of the collection. That total covers every platform and emulator together and no pack holds it: v2026.09.04 led with "10,330 files" right after "one pack per platform", and someone who extracted the complete RetroArch pack and counted 4,525 reported half of it missing. The collection total belongs under "What's new", worded as the collection.