improve doc: direct user to release page on landing page / document release...

improve doc: direct user to release page on landing page / document release management process. (#972)

* direct user to release page on Github landing page / document release management process.

README.md

@@ -18,26 +18,22 @@ ZAP allows you to perform the following:
 
 ZAP is a generic templating engine. Examples are provided for how to generate artifacts for the C language environment, but one could easily add new templates for other language environments, such as C++, java, node.js, python or any other.
 
-## Quick instructions
+## Quick setup
 
-This is a node.js application, so you need node environment installed. The best way is to simply download latest install of [node](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) and you will get node and npm. If you have an older version of node installed on your workstation, it may give you trouble, particularly if it's very old. So make sure you have latest node v16.x version, with the npm that comes with it available. Run `node --version` to check what version is picked up. v14.x mostly works as well, there is some success with v18.x, but at this point v16.x is recommended.
+### Prebuilt binaries
 
-Once you have a desired version of node, you can run:
+On the [release page](https://github.com/project-chip/zap/releases), there are two flavors of prebuilt binaries.
 
-```
-npm ci
-```
+- Official release:
+  Verified builds with dedicated Zigbee test suites.
+  The release name format is `vYYYY.DD.MM`
+- Pre-release:
+  Builds with the latest features and are NOT verified with dedicated Zigbee test suites.
+  The release name format is `vYYYY.DD.MM-nightly`
 
-which will download install all the project dependencies. It is not uncommon to run into native library compilation problems at this point.
-There are various `src-script/install-*` scripts for different platforms. Please refer to [FAQ](docs/faq.md) for additional details of which script to run on different platforms and then rerun `npm ci`.
+### Source code
 
-Then run:
-
-```
-npm run zap
-```
-
-Refer to [more detailed instructions](docs/instructions.md) for more details.
+Refer to [development instructions](docs/development-instructions.md) for more details.
 
 ## License
 
@@ -45,13 +41,14 @@ This software is licensed under [Apache 2.0 license](LICENSE.txt).
 
 ## Detailed Documentation
 
+- [FAQ](docs/faq.md)
+- [Release instructions](docs/development-instructions.md)
+- [Development Instructions](docs/development-instructions.md)
 - [Design](docs/design.md)
 - [Template tutorial](docs/template-tutorial.md)
 - [SDK integration guideline](docs/sdk-integration.md)
 - [Access control features](docs/access.md)
 - [Custom ZCL entities design](docs/custom-zcl.md)
-- [Instructions](docs/instructions.md)
-- [Coding standard](docs/coding-standard.md)
 - [API](docs/api.md)
-- [FAQ](docs/faq.md)
+- [Coding standard](docs/coding-standard.md)
 - [Notifications](docs/notifications.md)

docs/instructions.md → docs/development-instructions.md

@@ -2,12 +2,19 @@
 
 This section lists instructions for various things you might need to do in this repo.
 
+This is a node.js application, so you need node environment installed. The best way is to simply download latest install of [node](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) and you will get node and npm. If you have an older version of node installed on your workstation, it may give you trouble, particularly if it's very old. So make sure you have latest node v16.x version, with the npm that comes with it available. Run `node --version` to check what version is picked up. v14.x mostly works as well, there is some success with v18.x, but at this point v16.x is recommended.
+
+Once you have a desired version of node, you can run:
+
 **Install the dependencies:**
 
 ```bash
 npm install
 ```
 
+It is not uncommon to run into native library compilation problems at this point.
+There are various `src-script/install-*` scripts for different platforms. Please refer to [FAQ](docs/faq.md) for additional details of which script to run on different platforms and then rerun `npm install`.
+
 **Start the application:**
 
 ```bash

docs/release.md

+# Release instructions
+
+This section provides instructions for managing releases on the [ZAP release page](https://github.com/project-chip/zap/releases).
+
+There are two types of prebuilt binaries available: official releases and pre-release releases.
+
+Official releases are built from the `rel` branch and are verified using dedicated Zigbee test suites. Pre-release releases, on the other hand, are built from the `master` branch and are not fully verified as they carry the latest features.
+
+Pushing a tag triggers the release creation CI process, which creates the build and posts it to the release page. The format of the tag name determines whether the release is an official release or a pre-release.
+
+**To create a pre-release, follow these steps:**
+
+1. Checkout the `master` branch:
+
+```bash
+$ git checkout master
+```
+
+2. Tag the pre-release using the format `vYYYY.DD.MM-nightly` and provide a descriptive message:
+
+```bash
+$ git tag -a vYYYY.DD.MM-nightly -m 'Pre-release build from master branch'
+```
+
+3. Push the tag to the remote repository:
+
+```bash
+$ git push origin vYYYY.DD.MM-nightly
+```
+
+**To create an official release, follow these steps:**
+
+1. Checkout the `rel` branch:
+
+```bash
+$ git checkout rel
+```
+
+2. Tag the release using the format `vYYYY.DD.MM` and provide a descriptive message:
+
+```bash
+$ git tag -a vYYYY.DD.MM -m 'ZAP official release vYYYY.MM.DD'
+```
+
+3. Push the tag to the remote repository:
+
+```bash
+$ git push origin vYYYY.DD.MM
+```