Prepare Mullvad Browser Alpha 13.5a7

Explanation of variables

• $(BUILD_SERVER) : the server the main builder is using to build a mullvad-browser release
• $(BUILDER) : whomever is building the release on the $(BUILD_SERVER)
  • example : pierov
• $(STAGING_SERVER) : the server the signer is using to to run the signing process
• $(ESR_VERSION) : the Mozilla defined ESR version, used in various places for building mullvad-browser tags, labels, etc
  • example : 91.6.0
• $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_MAJOR) : the Mullvad Browser major version
  • example : 11
• $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_MINOR) : the Mullvad Browser minor version
  • example : either 0 or 5; Alpha's is always (Stable + 5) % 10
• $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION) : the Mullvad Browser version in the format
  • example : 12.5a3, 12.0.3
• $(BUILD_N) : a project's build revision within a its branch; this is separate from the $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) value; many of the Firefox-related projects have a $(BUILD_N) suffix and may differ between projects even when they contribute to the same build.
  • example : build1
• $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) : the mullvad-browser build revision for a given Mullvad Browser release; used in tagging git commits
  • example : build2
  • NOTE : A project's $(BUILD_N) and $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) may be the same, but it is possible for them to diverge. For example :
    • if we have multiple Mullvad Browser releases on a given ESR branch the two will become out of sync as the $(BUILD_N) value will increase, while the $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) value may stay at build1 (but the $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION) will increase)
    • if we have build failures unrelated to mullvad-browser, the $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) value will increase while the $(BUILD_N) will stay the same.
• $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION) : the published Mullvad Browser version
  • example : 11.5a6, 11.0.7
• $(MB_BUILD_TAG) : the tor-browser-build build tag used to build a given Mullvad Browser version
  • example : mb-12.0.7-build1

NOTE It is assumed that the tor-browser alpha rebase and security backport tasks have been completed

NOTE This can/is often done in conjunction with the equivalent Tor Browser release prep issue

Building

tor-browser-build: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build.git

Mullvad Browser Alpha (and Nightly) are on the main branch

• Update rbm.conf
  • var/torbrowser_version : update to next version
  • var/torbrowser_build : update to $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N)
  • var/torbrowser_incremental_from : update to previous Desktop version
    • NOTE: We try to build incrementals for the previous 3 desktop versions except in the case of a watershed update
    • IMPORTANT: Really actually make sure this is the previous Desktop version or else the make mullvadbrowser-incrementals-* step will fail
• Update build configs
  • Update projects/firefox/config
    • browser_build : update to match mullvad-browser tag
    • (Optional) var/firefox_platform_version : update to latest $(ESR_VERSION) if rebased
  • Update projects/translation/config:
    • run make list_translation_updates-alpha to get updated hashes
    • steps/base-browser/git_hash : update with HEAD commit of project's base-browser branch
    • steps/mullvad-browser/git_hash : update with HEAD commit of project's mullvad-browser branch
• Update common build configs
  • Check for NoScript updates here : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript
    • (Optional) If new version available, update noscript section of input_files in projects/browser/config
      • URL
      • sha256sum
  • Check for uBlock-origin updates here : https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
    • (Optional) If new version available, update ublock-origin section of input_files in projects/browser/config
      • URL
      • sha256sum
  • Check for Mullvad Browser Extension updates here : https://github.com/mullvad/browser-extension/releases
    • (Optional) If new version available, update mullvad-extension section of input_files in projects/browser/config
      • URL
      • sha256sum
• Update ChangeLog-MB.txt
  • Ensure ChangeLog-MB.txt is sync'd between alpha and stable branches
  • Check the linked issues: ask people to check if any are missing, remove the not fixed ones
  • Run ./tools/fetch-changelogs.py $(ISSUE_NUMBER) --date $date $updateArgs
    • Make sure you have requests installed (e.g., apt install python3-requests)
    • The first time you run this script you will need to generate an access token; the script will guide you
    • $updateArgs should be these arguments, depending on what you actually updated:
      • --firefox (be sure to include esr at the end if needed, which is usually the case)
      • --no-script
      • --ublock
      • E.g., ./tools/fetch-changelogs.py 41029 --date 'December 19 2023' --firefox 115.6.0esr --no-script 11.4.29 --ublock 1.54.0
    • --date $date is optional, if omitted it will be the date on which you run the command
  • Copy the output of the script to the beginning of ChangeLog-MB.txt and adjust its output
• Open MR with above changes, using the template for release preparations
• Merge
• Sign+Tag
  • NOTE this must be done by one of:
    • boklm
    • dan
    • ma1
    • pierov
    • richard
  • Run: make mullvadbrowser-signtag-alpha
  • Push tag to upstream
• Build the tag:
  • Run make mullvadbrowser-alpha && make mullvadbrowser-incrementals-alpha on:
    • Tor Project build machine
    • Local developer machine
  • Submit build request to Mullvad infrastructure:
    • NOTE this requires a devmole authentication token
    • Run make mullvadbrowser-kick-devmole-build
• Ensure builders have matching builds

Signing

release signing

• Assign this issue to the signer, one of:
  • boklm
  • richard
• On $(STAGING_SERVER), ensure updated:
  • tor-browser-build is on the right commit: git tag -v tbb-$(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION)-$(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N) && git checkout tbb-$(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION)-$(MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N)
  • tor-browser-build/tools/signing/set-config.hosts
    • ssh_host_builder : ssh hostname of machine with unsigned builds
      • NOTE : tor-browser-build is expected to be in the $HOME directory)
    • ssh_host_linux_signer : ssh hostname of linux signing machine
  • tor-browser-build/tools/signing/set-config.rcodesign-appstoreconnect
    • appstoreconnect_api_key_path : path to json file containing appstoreconnect api key infos
  • set-config.update-responses
    • update_responses_repository_dir : directory where you cloned git@gitlab.torproject.org:tpo/applications/mullvad-browser-update-responses.git
  • tor-browser-build/tools/signing/set-config.tbb-version
    • tbb_version : mullvad browser version string, same as var/torbrowser_version in rbm.conf (examples: 11.5a12, 11.0.13)
    • tbb_version_build : the tor-browser-build build number (if var/torbrowser_build in rbm.conf is buildN then this value is N)
    • tbb_version_type : either alpha for alpha releases or release for stable releases
• On $(STAGING_SERVER) in a separate screen session, ensure tor daemon is running with SOCKS5 proxy on the default port 9050
• On $(STAGING_SERVER) in a separate screen session, run do-all-signing script:
  • cd tor-browser-build/tools/signing/
  • ./do-all-signing.mullvadbrowser
• NOTE: at this point the signed binaries should have been copied to staticiforme
• Update staticiforme.torproject.org:
  • From screen session on staticiforme.torproject.org:
  • Remove old release data from /srv/dist-master.torproject.org/htdocs/mullvadbrowser
  • Static update components (again) : static-update-component dist.torproject.org

Publishing

mullvad-browser (GitHub): https://github.com/mullvad/mullvad-browser/

• Assign this issue to someone with mullvad commit access, one of:
  • richard
• Push this release's associated mullvad-browser.git branch to github
• Push this release's associated tags to github:
  • Firefox ESR tag
    • example : FIREFOX_102_12_0esr_BUILD1
  • base-browser tag
    • example : base-browser-102.12.0esr-12.0-1-build1
  • mullvad-browser tag
    • example : mullvad-browser-102.12.0esr-12.0-1-build1
• Sign+Tag additionally the mullvad-browser.git firefox commit used in build:
  • Tag: $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION)
    • example : 12.5a7
  • Message: $(ESR_VERSION)esr-based $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION)
    • example : 102.12.0esr-based 12.5a7
  • Push tag to github

email

• (Once branch+tags pushed to GitHub) Email Mullvad with release information:
  • support alias: support@mullvadvpn.net
  • Rui: rui@mullvad.net
  • Subject

    New build: Mullvad Browser $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERION) (signed)

  • Body

    Hello,
    
    Branch+Tags have been pushed to Mullvad's GitHub repo.
    
    - signed builds: https://dist.torproject.org/mullvadbrowser/$(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION)
    - update_response hashes: $(MULLVAD_UPDATE_RESPONSES_HASH)
    
    changelog:
    ...

Downstream

notify packagers

These steps depend on Mullvad having updated their GitHub Releases page with the latest release

• (Optional) Email downstream consumers:
  • NOTE: This is an optional step and only necessary close a major release/transition from alpha to stable, or if there are major packing changes these developers need to be aware of
  • flathub package maintainer: proletarius101@protonmail.com
  • arch package maintainer: bootctl@gmail.com
  • nixOS package maintainer: dev@felschr.com
  • Subject

    Mullvad Browser $(MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION) released

  • Body

    Hello!
    
    This is a major alpha release which may require changes in your respective downstream packages once it stabilises.
    
    The latest alpha builds can be found here:
    
    - https://github.com/mullvad/mullvad-browser/releases?q=prerelease%3Atrue