docs(NODE-6193): add releasing documentation (#4136)

Co-authored-by: Aditi Khare <[email protected]>

Author: nbbeeken

etc/notes/releasing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+# Releasing MongoDB Node.js Packages
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> _Last updated: Thu Jun 6_
+
+## Pre-requisites
+
+- You must be an employee of MongoDB.
+- You must have maintainer access to the repository you are publishing a release for.
+
+## `release-please`
+
+Every commit that lands on a release branch **MUST** follow [conventional commit](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/) formatting.
+The format of each commit message determines the next semantic version from that branch.
+We use a CLI tool called [`release-please`](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) via a [github action](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please-action) of the same name.
+`release-please` maintains our `HISTORY.md` and automatically writes the new version to our `package.json` (etc.) files.
+Every new commit to a release branch caused the action to update the history and version files in a pending release PR.
+Merging the release PR will make the action create a Github Release and subsequently because a "release_created" flag is true, we run npm publish from within the same action.
+
+> [!TIP]
+> See the release workflow here: [.github/workflows/release.yml](.github/workflows/release.yml)
+
+## Release Notes
+
+The contents of the release PR's body becomes the contents of the Github Release.
+This is used to prepare descriptive and colorful release notes using [Github Flavored Markdown](https://github.github.com/gfm/).
+All of the PRs that are going into the next release should have **Release Highlight** sections describing the downstream impact of the fix or feat.
+These sections **MUST** contain a level 3 markdown header.
+
+```
+<!-- RELEASE_HIGHLIGHT_START -->
+
+### Enhanced compatibility with CoffeeScript
+
+The MongoDB driver can now generate a cup of joe.
+
+<!-- RELEASE_HIGHLIGHT_END -->`
+```
+
+> [!TIP]
+> See the release notes workflow here: [.github/workflows/release_notes.yml](.github/workflows/release_notes.yml)
+> The supporting scripts for parsing and building markdown are here: [.github/scripts](.github/scripts)
+
+## Release Instructions
+
+1. On slack notify `#node-driver-docs`, `#nodejs-devtools`, and `#mongoose` that we intend to publish a release.
+    - You may skip this step if you are releasing a package other than the driver.
+1. Comment "`run release_notes`" on the release PR.
+    - This will kick off the action that reads the notes from each PR going into the release.
+    - Double check the result looks logically organized
+    - You may edit the PR body for any quick edits or re-orderings.
+    - If there are a number of changes, edit the original PRs and post a new `run` comment
+1. Merge the release PR
+    - If this is a release to a previous major, navigate to the new release and reset "latest" to our latest release in our _current_ major.
+1. If this is a new driver minor release, generate the new documentation
+    - **Check out the git tag** and run `npm run build:docs  -- --tag=<version>`
+    - `<version>` should be formatted MAJOR.MINOR (ex. `--tag=6.8`)
+    - Check the changes with: `npm run preview:docs`
+    - Post a PR with the generated docs targeting `main`
+        - You may need to stash/rebase depending on where the tag was, see [etc/docs/README.md](etc/docs/README.md)
+1. Announce it!
+    - Post an update about the newly released versions to `#nodejs` channel in Slack
+    - If releasing the driver, post to the community forums about the new release
+    - [Example 6.0.0 post](https://www.mongodb.com/community/forums/t/mongodb-nodejs-driver-6-0-0-released/241691)
+        - Copy what was in the release highlights section of your GitHub release post
+        - Topic: node-js
+        - Category: About the Community Product & Driver Announcements
+1. Mark the [fix version as released in JIRA](https://jira.mongodb.org/projects/NODE?selectedItem=com.atlassian.jira.jira-projects-plugin%3Arelease-page&status=unreleased).
+
+### Authentication
+
+The github action is able to publish with the repository secret `NPM_TOKEN`.
+This is a granular API key that is unique to each package and has to be rotated on a regular basis.
+The `[email protected]` npm account is the author of the automated release.
+
+### Prebuilds
+
+Our native packages offer pre built binaries using [`prebuild`](https://github.com/prebuild/prebuild).
+prebuild uploads archives of the native dependency to the github release.
+`prebuild-install` will handle downloading the correct binary when the package is installed by downstream projects.
+Uploading binaries should happen automatically after the git tag/github release has been made.
+It may take some time for the building and uploading to finish, but no more than a few hours at most.
+
+## Packages
+
+The following is a list of packages the Node.js team is responsible for and these release instructions apply to.
+
+- https://github.com/mongodb/node-mongodb-native
+- https://github.com/mongodb/js-bson
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/mongodb-client-encryption
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/kerberos
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/zstd
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/nodejs-mongodb-legacy
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/mongodb-connection-string-url
+- https://github.com/mongodb-js/dbx-js-tools (Node.js team developer tools, not a product)