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+# Patch Release Checklist
+
+This process handles patch releases from version `vX.Y.Z` to `vX.Y.Z+1` assuming that `vX.Y.Z` is the latest released version of go-ipfs.
+
+- [ ] Fork a new branch (`release-vX.Y.Z`) from `release` and cherry-pick the relevant commits from master (or custom fixes) onto this branch
+- [ ] Make a minimal changelog update tracking the relevant fixes to CHANGELOG.
+- [ ] version string in `version.go` has been updated (in the `release-vX.Y.Z+1` branch).
+- [ ] Make a PR merging `release-vX.Y.Z+1` into the release branch
+- [ ] tag the merge commit in the `release` branch with `vX.Y.Z+1`
+- [ ] upload to dist.ipfs.io
+  1. Build: https://github.com/ipfs/distributions#usage.
+  2. Pin the resulting release.
+  3. Make a PR against ipfs/distributions with the updated versions, including the new hash in the PR comment.
+  4. Ask the infra team to update the DNSLink record for dist.ipfs.io to point to the new distribution.
+- [ ] cut a release on [github](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/releases) and upload the result of the ipfs/distributions build in the previous step.
+- Announce the Release:
+  - [ ] On IRC/Matrix (both #ipfs and #ipfs-dev)
+  - [ ] On discuss.ipfs.io
+- [ ] Release published
+  - [ ] to [dist.ipfs.io](https://dist.ipfs.io)
+  - [ ] to [npm-go-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/npm-go-ipfs)
+  - [ ] to [chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org/packages/ipfs)
+  - [ ] to [snap](https://snapcraft.io/ipfs)
+  - [ ] to [github](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/releases)
+  - [ ] to [arch](https://www.archlinux.org/packages/community/x86_64/go-ipfs/) (flag it out of date)
+- [ ] Cut a new ipfs-desktop release
+- [ ] Merge the `release` branch back into `master`, ignoring the changes to `version.go` (keep the `-dev` version from master).