## Two weeks before release day

 1. Announce internally that any last minute changes should be done as soon as possible.
 1. Go through the release blocker list for this cycle and punt non-RC tasks to next cycle. Communicate this list to the Ubuntu Release Team.
 1. Inform the Calamares upstream contact that we plan on doing a release in two weeks. Discuss whether any important patches should be cherry-picked, and get those uploaded as soon as possible. Ask them nicely to ping you in the next two weeks if anything important comes up.
 1. Talk to the Lubuntu Documentation Team about what needs to be wrapped up for next release. Nicely remind them that the release is in two weeks.

## A week before release day

 1. Update the downloads page and the homepage for the new release in a draft, so they can be published on release day.
 1. Do one final check of the [ISO QA Tracker](https://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/) and send out a call for testers.
 1. Start drafting a blog post for the release. Ideally in Markdown.
 1. Gather known bugs (possibly automate this) to put on the blog post from:
    1. [Bugs associated with the Lubuntu Packages Team](https://bugs.launchpad.net/~lubuntu-packaging);
    1. Packages in the Lubuntu packageset which the Lubuntu Packages Team might not have been subscribed to, especially Lubuntu specific ones like `lubuntu-meta` and `lubuntu-artwork`;
    1. Known issues from previous release notes; and
    1. [Open defects report on the ISO QA tracker](http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/defects/opened) for both the upcoming release as well as previous releases to ensure nothing has been missed.
 1. Make sure that the link is correct on the Ubuntu release notes for where our announcement will be.
    1. Remind the Ubuntu Release Team that our link schema has not changed.

## After ISOs have been released

 1. Update the Lubuntu Manual in production (via SSH):
    1. Merge `stable` -> `master`.
    1. Make sure version strings and hashes are updated in the `master` branch.
    1. Rename `stable` to its release number.
    1. Push `master` to `stable` (and to `lts` if applicable; do NOT merge).
    1. Change the version strings in `master` to reflect the new development release.
 1. Publish the blog post and the downloads/homepage/links drafts.
 1. Post on social media:
    1. [X](https://x.com/LubuntuOfficial) and [Mastodon](https://fosstodon.org/@LubuntuOfficial).
    1. [r/Lubuntu](https://www.reddit.com/r/Lubuntu) and [r/Ubuntu](https://www.reddit.com/r/Ubuntu).
    1. [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/Lubuntu.Official.Page/) and [Facebook group](https://www.facebook.com/groups/lubuntu.official/).
 1. Scan social media and see if anyone is pointing out any reproducible bugs that we can file. Be gracious and understanding of the fact that most comments are from laymen-level users.

After the codename is announced and `base-files` is uploaded:

 1. File documentation about a new wallpaper and slideshow for the upcoming release.
 1. Change `update.cfg` in lubuntu-meta and the branding/desktop file in calamares-settings-ubuntu.
 1. Make sure `repo-list` is up-to-date and run `setup-repos` in this repo. The production values can be found elsewhere.
 1. If `lintian` and `devscripts` have not been updated (NOTE: normally, Ubuntu/Debian would handle this), cherry-pick the `lintian` patch adding the new release as known if there is one, and no-change rebuild `devscripts`.
    1. Lintian needs a patch because all of the Ubuntu release codenames are hardcoded in `vendors/ubuntu/main/data/changes-file/known-dists`.
    1. `devscripts` needs a no-change rebuild because it gets the value grabbed by `dch -r` on build time. This is the conditional `sed` modification to `debchange.pl` in `scripts/Makefile`.
 1. Evaluate our packages. What needs to be updated to the latest upstream release? What did we carry over to this release?
    1. Qt 6 stack.
    1. LXQt itself.