docs/contribute-to-docs/getting-started/branches-and-cherrypicking.md

Branches and cherrypicking

Knative attempts to support the last 4 releases.

By default, new documentation should be written on the main branch and then cherry-picked to the release branches if needed. Note that the default view of Knative website is of the most recent release branch, which means that changes to main don't show up unless explicitly cherrypicked. This also means that documentation changes for a release should be made during the development cycle, rather than at the last minute or after the release.

Docs versioning

Each version of the Knative docs are separated by branches in the knative/docs repository. The main branch represents the "in active development" version of the docs. All content in the main branch is renders on the Knative website under the Pre-release menu and might not be tested nor working.

Content in all the other branches of the knative/docs repo represent "released versions of the docs" and use the naming convention release-#.# where #.# is the version of Knative to which those docs correspond.

Choosing the correct branch

It is likely that your docs contribution is either for new or changed features in the product, or for a fix or update existing content.

• New or changed features: If you are adding or updating documentation for a new or changed feature, you likely want to open your PR against the main branch. All pre-release content for active Knative development belongs in main.

• Fixes and updates: If you find an issue in a past release, for example a typo or out-of-date content, you likely need to cherrypick your PR. Add the "cherrypick labels" to your original PR to indicate in which of the past release that your change affects.

See a list of the available documentation versions in the branches page of the knative/docs repo.

Cherrypicking

You can use the /cherrypick tool to automatically cherrypick changes from main to previous releases.

For example, if you find a typo in a page of the v1.0 release, then that page in the main branch likely also has that typo.

To fix the typo:

1. Open a PR against the main branch.
2. In a comment on your PR, use the /cherrypick tool to indicate which of the past release branches should also be fixed. Generally, we only maintain the most recent numbered release.

After the original PR is merged, the /cherrypick tool automatically creates a new PR with your changes on the specified branch.