The `initial` and `next` subdirectories of this directory are for release notes.
-At the start of a release development cycle, the contents of `next` should be deleted
-and replaced with those of `initial`.
-Release notes should be added to `next` by editing existing files or creating new files.
+## For developers
-To prepare the release notes for a release, run `golang.org/x/build/cmd/relnote generate`.
-That will merge the `.md` files in `next` into a single file.
+Release notes should be added to `next` by editing existing files or creating new files.
-The files are merged by being concatenated in sorted order by pathname. Files in
-the directory matching the glob "*stdlib/*minor" are treated specially. They should
-be in subdirectories corresponding to standard library package paths, and headings
-for those package paths will be generated automatically.
+At the end of the development cycle, the files will be merged by being
+concatenated in sorted order by pathname. Files in the directory matching the
+glob "*stdlib/*minor" are treated specially. They should be in subdirectories
+corresponding to standard library package paths, and headings for those package
+paths will be generated automatically.
-Files in this repo's `api/next` directory must have corresponding files in `*stdlib/*minor`.
-The files should be in the subdirectory for the package with the new API, and should
-be named after the issue number of the API proposal. For example, for an api/next
-file with the line
+Files in this repo's `api/next` directory must have corresponding files in
+`*stdlib/*minor`. The files should be in the subdirectory for the package with
+the new API, and should be named after the issue number of the API proposal. For
+example, an `api/next` file with the line
pkg net/http, function F #12345
-there should be a file named net/http/12345.md.
+should have a corresponding file named `net/http/12345.md`.
At a minimum, that file should contain either a full sentence or a TODO,
ideally referring to a person with the responsibility to complete the note.
+
+## For the release team
+
+At the start of a release development cycle, the contents of `next` should be deleted
+and replaced with those of `initial`. From the repo root:
+
+ > cd doc
+ > rm -r next/*
+ > cp -r initial/* next
+
+Then edit `next/1-intro.md` to refer to the next version.
+
+To prepare the release notes for a release, run `golang.org/x/build/cmd/relnote generate`.
+That will merge the `.md` files in `next` into a single file.