Release candidate

As explained in Automating API Delivery

A release candidate is a packaged software version considered sufficiently complete for deployment to further testing or production environments.

A release candidate is the packaged output of continuous integration: a version that has passed developer-focused technical tests and is ready for deployment to higher environments. section 8.3

Use the release candidate as the handoff between integration checks and progressively realistic validation:

• Build and package the software while running unit and component tests. section 8.3
• Deploy the packaged candidate to higher environments for acceptance, performance, security, and other testing. section 8.3
• Trigger deployment automatically or on demand; use feature flags or keystone interfaces to hide incomplete features. section 8.3

Figure 8.3 The Acme team’s deployment pipeline

Trace the Acme deployment pipeline from build output through higher-environment testing. section 8.3

How Automating API Delivery covers it

How deep it goes

Defines the artifact and places it in the CI/CD sequence, but stops short of specifying packaging commands or acceptance-test procedures.

Examples

Shows a packaged CI output deployed through increasingly production-like environments and protected with feature flags.

What it assumes

Assumes source control and build-server practices while identifying continuous integration and continuous delivery terminology.

What you can do after

Operate a CI/CD workflow by producing a tested package and moving it into further automated or on-demand validation.

How it connects

Connects release candidates to continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous deployment, build, feature flags, and higher environments.

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Related concepts

• CI/CD serverproduced by · A CI/CD server is a computer or service that automates software integration, building, testing, packaging, validation, and delivery or deployment tasks.
• preview environmentuses · A preview environment is a temporary, nonproduction deployment context for evaluating or testing a proposed software change before release.
• deployment pipelineproduced by · A sequence of automated or manual stages that builds, tests or validates, packages, and delivers software or models toward deployment.
• testuses · A test is a procedure or check that evaluates behavior using specified inputs or evidence against expected results or criteria.
• ethical reviewconfigured by · A structured assessment of a system’s effects, risks, and acceptability against relevant ethical considerations.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Automating API Delivery. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.