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+---
+stage: Create
+group: Source Code
+info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
+---
+
+# Processes for GitLab Shell
+
+## Releasing a new version
+
+GitLab Shell is versioned by Git tags, and the version used by the Rails
+application is stored in
+[`GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION).
+
+For each version, there is a raw version and a tag version:
+
+- The **raw version** is the version number. For instance, `15.2.8`.
+- The **tag version** is the raw version prefixed with `v`. For instance, `v15.2.8`.
+
+To release a new version of GitLab Shell and have that version available to the
+Rails application:
+
+1. Create a merge request to update the [`CHANGELOG`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md) with the
+   **tag version** and the [`VERSION`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/VERSION) file with the **raw version**.
+1. Ask a maintainer to review and merge the merge request. If you're already a
+   maintainer, second maintainer review is not required.
+1. Add a new Git tag with the **tag version**.
+1. Update `GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION` in the Rails application to the **raw
+   version**.
+
+   NOTE:
+   This can be done as a separate merge request, or in a merge request
+   that uses the latest GitLab Shell changes.
+
+## Security releases
+
+GitLab Shell is included in the packages we create for GitLab. Each version of
+GitLab specifies the version of GitLab Shell it uses in the `GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION`
+file. Because of this specification, security fixes in GitLab Shell are tightly coupled to the
+[GitLab security release](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/workflow/#security-issues) workflow.
+
+For a security fix in GitLab Shell, two sets of merge requests are required:
+
+1. The fix itself, in the `gitlab-org/security/gitlab-shell` repository and its
+   backports to the previous versions of GitLab Shell.
+1. Merge requests to change the versions of GitLab Shell included in the GitLab
+   security release, in the `gitlab-org/security/gitlab` repository.
+
+The first step could be to create a merge request with a fix targeting `main`
+in `gitlab-org/security/gitlab-shell`. When the merge request is approved by maintainers,
+backports targeting previous 3 versions of GitLab Shell must be created. The stable
+branches for those versions may not exist, so feel free to ask a maintainer to create
+them. The stable branches must be created out of the GitLab Shell tags or versions
+used by the 3 previous GitLab releases.
+
+To find out the GitLab Shell version used on a particular GitLab stable release,
+run this command, replacing `13-9-stable-ee` with the version you're interested in.
+These commands show the version used by the `13.9` version of GitLab:
+
+```shell
+git fetch security 13-9-stable-ee
+git show refs/remotes/security/13-9-stable-ee:GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION
+```
+
+Close to the GitLab security release, a maintainer should merge the fix and backports,
+and cut all the necessary GitLab Shell versions. This allows bumping the
+`GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION` for `gitlab-org/security/gitlab`. The GitLab merge request
+is handled by the general GitLab security release process.
+
+After the security release is done, a GitLab Shell maintainer is responsible for
+syncing tags and `main` to the `gitlab-org/gitlab-shell` repository.