Skip to content

DISTRIBUTION.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
88 lines (63 loc) · 3.61 KB

DISTRIBUTION.md

File metadata and controls

88 lines (63 loc) · 3.61 KB

Release & Distribution

This document covers the release process for all distribution channels.

Triggering a release

All builds are triggered by pushing a v* tag:

# 1. Bump version in src/RailReader2/RailReader2.csproj
# 2. Update docs/index.html softwareVersion in JSON-LD
# 3. Commit and tag
git add src/RailReader2/RailReader2.csproj docs/index.html
git commit -m "chore: bump version to X.Y.Z"
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push && git push origin vX.Y.Z

The release workflow (.github/workflows/release.yml) runs five jobs:

Job Runner Output Destination
build-linux ubuntu-24.04 railreader2-linux-x86_64.AppImage GitHub Release
build-windows windows-latest railreader2-setup-x64.exe GitHub Release
build-msix windows-latest railreader2-win-x64.msix CI artifact only (not in release)
build-cli-linux ubuntu-24.04 railreader2-cli-linux-x64 GitHub Release
build-cli-windows windows-latest RailReader2.Cli.exe GitHub Release

The GitHub Release is created automatically with the AppImage, Inno Setup installer, and CLI binaries. The MSIX artifact is available in the Actions run for manual Store submission.

GitHub Release (Linux + Windows)

Fully automated. The release job downloads the AppImage and Inno Setup installer artifacts and creates a GitHub Release with auto-generated release notes.

No manual steps required.

Microsoft Store (Windows)

The Store submission is currently a manual process. The CI builds the unsigned MSIX; you download it and upload to Partner Center.

Store release workflow

  1. Wait for CI to finish — after pushing the tag, wait for the build-msix job to complete:

    gh run list --workflow=release.yml --limit=1

  2. Download the MSIX artifact from the completed workflow run:

    # Find the run ID
gh run list --workflow=release.yml --limit=1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId'

# Download the artifact
gh run download <RUN_ID> --name windows-msix --dir /tmp/msix

    The file is at /tmp/msix/railreader2-win-x64.msix.

  3. Submit to Partner Center:

    • Go to https://partner.microsoft.com/dashboard
    • Navigate to Apps and Games > RailReader2
    • Click Update (or Start your submission for the first time)
    • In the Packages section, upload railreader2-win-x64.msix
    • Review the listing details (description, screenshots, etc.)
    • Submit for certification

  4. Certification takes a few hours. Microsoft re-signs the package with their certificate. Once approved, the update goes live on the Store.

Partner Center account

MSIX manifest

The manifest at msix/Package.appxmanifest declares:

  • App identity matching the Partner Center registration
  • PDF file type association
  • runFullTrust capability (required for .NET desktop apps)
  • Visual assets for Store tiles

The CI automatically updates the manifest version from the git tag before building the MSIX.

Future automation

Automated Store submission via the Partner Center API requires an Azure AD tenant with an app registration linked to the Partner Center account. This can be set up later if the release cadence justifies it. The CI already produces the MSIX artifact — the only manual step is the upload to Partner Center.