• ${BUILD_SERVER}: the server the main builder is using to build a 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 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
    • ⚠️ WARNING: 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
• ${RELEASE_DATE}: the intended release date of this browser release; for ESR schedule-driven releases, this should match the upstream Firefox release date
  • example: 2024-10-29

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

• Tag mullvad-browser commit:
  • example: mullvad-browser-128.4.0esr-14.5-1-build1
  • Run:

    ./tools/browser/sign-tag.mullvadbrowser alpha ${BUILD_N}

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

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

• Changelog bookkeeping:
  • Ensure all commits to mullvad-browser and tor-browser-build for this release have an associated issue linked to this release preparation issue
  • Ensure each issue has a platform (Windows, MacOS, Linux, Desktop, All Platforms) and potentially Build System labels
• Create a release preparation branch from the main branch
• Run release preparation script:
  • NOTE: You can omit the --mullvad-browser argument if this is for a joint Tor and Mullvad Browser release
  • ⚠️ WARNING: You may need to manually update the firefox/config file's browser_build field if mullvad-browser.git has not yet been tagged (e.g. if security backports have not yet been merged and tagged)

  ./tools/relprep.py --mullvad-browser  --date ${RELEASE_DATE} ${MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION}

• Review build configuration changes:
  • rbm.conf
    • var/torbrowser_version: updated to next browser version
    • var/torbrowser_build: updated to ${MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N}
    • var/browser_release_date: updated to build date. For the build to be reproducible, the date should be in the past when building.
      • ⚠️ WARNING: If we have updated var/torbrowser_build without updating the firefox tag, then we can leave this unchanged to avoid forcing a firefox re-build (e.g. when bumping var/torbrowser_build to build2, build3, etc due to non-firefox related build issues)
    • var/browser_platforms: updated to enable the platforms included in this release
    • var/torbrowser_incremental_from: updated to previous Desktop version
      • NOTE: We try to build incrementals for the previous 3 desktop versions
      • ⚠️ WARNING: Really actually make sure this is the previous Desktop version or else the make mullvadbrowser-incrementals-* step will fail
  • projects/firefox/config
    • browser_build: updated to match mullvad-browser tag
    • (Optional) var/firefox_platform_version: updated to latest ${ESR_VERSION} if rebased
  • (Optional) projects/translation/config:
    • steps/base-browser/git_hash: updated with HEAD commit of project's base-browser branch
    • steps/mullvad-browser/git_hash: updated with HEAD commit of project's mullvad-browser branch
  • (Optional) projects/browser/config:
    • (Optional) NoScript: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/noscript
      • URL updated
        • ⚠️ WARNING: If preparing the release manually, updating the version number in the url is not sufficient, as each version has a random unique id in the download url
      • sha256sum updated
    • (Optional) uBlock-origin: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin
      • URL updated
        • ⚠️ WARNING: If preparing the release manually, updating the version number in the url is not sufficient, as each version has a random unique id in the download url
      • sha256sum updated
    • (Optional) Mullvad Browser extension: https://github.com/mullvad/browser-extension/releases
      • URL updated
      • sha256sum updated
  • ChangeLog-MB.txt: ensure correctness
    • Browser name correct
    • Release date correct
    • No Android updates
    • All issues added under correct platform
    • ESR updates correct
    • Component updates correct
• Open MR with above changes, using the template for release preparations
  • NOTE: target the main branch
• Merge
• Sign+Tag
  • NOTE this must be done by one of:
    • boklm
    • dan
    • ma1
    • morgan
    • pierov
  • Run:

    make mullvadbrowser-signtag-alpha

• Push tag to upstream
• Build the tag:
  • Run:

    make mullvadbrowser

    • Tor Project build machine
    • Local developer machine
  • Submit build request to Mullvad infrastructure:
    • NOTE this requires a devmole authentication token
    • NOTE this also requires you be connected to Gothenburg Mulvad VPN exit se-got-wg-101
    • Run:

      make mullvadbrowser-kick-devmole-build

release signing

• Assign this issue to the signer, one of:
  • boklm
  • ma1
  • morgan
  • pierov
• Ensure all builders have matching builds
• On ${STAGING_SERVER}, ensure updated:
  • NOTE Having a local git branch with main as the upstream branch with these values saved means you only need to periodically git pull --rebase and update the set-config.tbb-version file
  • tor-browser-build is on the right commit: git tag -v mb-${MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION}-${MULLVAD_BROWSER_BUILD_N} && git checkout mb-${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
    • ssh_host_linux_signer: ssh hostname of linux signing machine
    • builder_tor_browser_build_dir: path on ssh_host_builder to root of builder's tor-browser-build clone containing unsigned builds
  • 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:
  • Run:

    cd tor-browser-build/tools/signing/ && ./do-all-signing.mullvadbrowser

  • NOTE: on successful execution, the signed binaries and mars should have been copied to staticiforme and update responses pushed

website

• On staticiforme.torproject.org, remove old release and publish new:
  • /srv/dist-master.torproject.org/htdocs/mullvadbrowser
  • Run:

    static-update-component dist.torproject.org

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

• Assign this issue to someone with mullvad commit access, one of:
  • boklm
  • ma1
  • morgan
  • pierov
• 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 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 build tag
    • example: mullvad-browser-102.12.0esr-12.0-1-build1
  • mullvad-browser release tag
    • example: 12.0.11

Mullvad

• Email Mullvad with release information:
  • Recipients
    • Mullvad support alias: support@mullvadvpn.net
    • Rui Hildt: rui@mullvad.net

    support@mullvadvpn.net, rui@mullvad.net,

  • Subject

    New build: Mullvad Browser ${MULLVAD_BROWSER_VERSION} (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}
    
    * https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/mullvad-browser-update-responses
    
    changelog:
    # paste changelog as quote here
    ...

packagers

• (Optional, Once Packages are pushed to GitHub)
  • 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
  • Recipients
    • flathub package maintainer: proletarius101@protonmail.com
    • arch package maintainer: bootctl@gmail.com
    • nixOS package maintainer: dev@felschr.com

    proletarius101@protonmail.com, bootctl@gmail.com, 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