Merge pull request #75 from newrelic/jasonjkeller/add-release-details

Add release process details to readme

README.md

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ micrometer for recording metrics.
 Note: the micrometer project currently includes a NewRelicMeterRegistry that writes metrics to NewRelic as 
 custom events. This implementation is intended to supersede that, as [dimensional metrics](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/using-new-relic/data/understand-data/new-relic-data-types#dimensional-metrics) are a better fit for micrometer metrics than custom [events](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/using-new-relic/data/understand-data/new-relic-data-types#events-new-relic). 
 
-### How to use:
+### Usage:
 
 1) via gradle: 
 
@@ -53,3 +53,30 @@ For general querying information, see:
 - [Query New Relic data](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/using-new-relic/data/understand-data/query-new-relic-data)
 - [Intro to NRQL](https://docs.newrelic.com/docs/query-data/nrql-new-relic-query-language/getting-started/introduction-nrql)
 
+### Release Process
+
+#### Publish to Staging Repo
+
+To stage the release simply submit and merge a PR to update the [build.gradle.kts](build.gradle.kts) file with the version to be released (e.g. `version := "0.5.0"`).
+
+Results of the job can be viewed here: https://dev.azure.com/NRAzurePipelines/Java%20CI/_build
+
+After the staging release job has run successfully it will publish the new artifact to a staging repository on Sonatype at: https://oss.sonatype.org/#stagingRepositories.
+
+#### Manually Release Staging Repo
+
+1. Find the staging repo on Sonatype, which should be named similar to `comnewrelic-nnnn`, and validate that the contents and version look correct.
+2. If the contents look correct, select the staging repo and choose `close`, leaving a comment such as `releasing 0.5.0`.
+3. When the staging repo is finished closing, select the staging repo and choose `release`, keeping the `Automatically Drop` checkbox checked, and leave a comment such as `releasing 0.5.0`.
+4. Verify that the artifact was published on Maven Central at: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/com/newrelic/telemetry/micrometer-registry-new-relic/
+
+#### Post Release
+
+Submit and merge a PR with the following:
+* Update the [build.gradle.kts](build.gradle.kts) file with to a snapshot version of a potential future release (e.g. `version  := "0.5.1-SNAPSHOT"`).
+* Update the [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md) with details of the new release:
+  ```markdown
+  ## [0.5.0]
+  - Miscellaneous bug fixes and tweaks
+  ```
+* Update the [Usage](#usage) example in the [README](README.md) with the newly released version (e.g. `implementation 'com.newrelic.telemetry:micrometer-registry-new-relic:0.5.0'`).