You can run `make gorelease` that runs [gorelease](https://pkg.go.dev/golang.org/x/exp/cmd/gorelease) to ensure that there are no unwanted changes done in the public API.
You can check/report problems with `gorelease` [here](https://golang.org/issues/26420).
If the changes in the main repository are going to affect the contrib repository, it is important to verify that the changes are compatible with the contrib repository.
Follow [the steps](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib/blob/main/RELEASING.md#verify-otel-changes) in the contrib repository to verify OTel changes.
- Make sure the new section is under the comment for released section, like `<!-- Released section -->`, so it is protected from being overwritten in the future.
4. Push the changes to upstream and create a Pull Request on GitHub.
Be sure to include the curated changes from the [Changelog](./CHANGELOG.md) in the description.
## Tag
Once the Pull Request with all the version changes has been approved and merged it is time to tag the merged commit.
***IMPORTANT***: It is critical you use the same tag that you used in the Pre-Release step!
Failure to do so will leave things in a broken state. As long as you do not
change `versions.yaml` between pre-release and this step, things should be fine.
***IMPORTANT***: [There is currently no way to remove an incorrectly tagged version of a Go module](https://github.com/golang/go/issues/34189).
It is critical you make sure the version you push upstream is correct.
[Failure to do so will lead to minor emergencies and tough to work around](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/issues/331).
1. For each module set that will be released, run the `add-tags` make target
using the `<commit-hash>` of the commit on the main branch for the merged Pull Request.
```
make add-tags MODSET=<module set> COMMIT=<commit hash>
```
It should only be necessary to provide an explicit `COMMIT` value if the
current `HEAD` of your working directory is not the correct commit.
2. Push tags to the upstream remote (not your fork: `github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go.git`).
Make sure you push all sub-modules as well.
```
git push upstream <new tag>
git push upstream <submodules-path/new tag>
...
```
## Release
Finally create a Release for the new `<new tag>` on GitHub.
The release body should include all the release notes from the Changelog for this release.
## Post-Release
### Contrib Repository
Once verified be sure to [make a release for the `contrib` repository](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go-contrib/blob/main/RELEASING.md) that uses this release.
Once a release is made, ensure all issues that were fixed and PRs that were merged as part of this release are added to the corresponding milestone.
This helps track what changes were included in each release.
- To find issues that haven't been included in a milestone, use this [GitHub search query](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20no%3Amilestone%20is%3Aclosed%20sort%3Aupdated-desc%20reason%3Acompleted%20-label%3AStale%20linked%3Apr)
- To find merged PRs that haven't been included in a milestone, use this [GitHub search query](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-go/pulls?q=is%3Apr+no%3Amilestone+is%3Amerged).
Once all related issues and PRs have been added to the milestone, close the milestone.